#yeah i love lee chan a completely normal amount | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dom--minnie · 4 years ago

Text

Three’s a Party

Summary: There aren’t supposed to be secrets in relationships. Unfortunately, Felix currently has three. One is let out with no problem. The second creates complications no one could have foreseen. The third, unknown to him, he isn’t the only one that holds the same secret.

Word count: 9.3k

Genre: fluff, smut, angst

Content: non-idol au, established reader and felix, gender-neutral afab reader, felix is nervous, chan is a bit of a dummy, felix wears skirts, threesome, switch! reader, switch! felix, dom! chan, mutual pining, slight lack of communication, threesome arrangement with kink and safeword discussions included, daddy kink, piv, protected sex, unprotected sex, MxM intimacy, (slight) size kink, (slight) strength kink, hand kink, finger sucking, praise kink, pet names, creampie, slight voyeurism and exhibitionism, accidental confessions, polyamory negotiations

Taglist: @solistired @hyunsluvv

a/n: I only technically lied about the release date. Yes, I said Saturday but I also said the 18th which is today for me still, so it’s fine! I hope I made the wait worth it for anyone interested and for everyone else, voila

Relationships aren't meant to have secrets. Felix technically has several but he keeps them under wraps. The most damning one... one that he would never reveal except under the direst of circumstances. The other ones are far less destructive but are arguably more embarrassing.

You live in blissful ignorance of all of these, at least for now. Until Felix decides he should tell you something, considering how often he thinks about them. So one day you walk into your shared bedroom with Felix he's wearing a short, blue skirt. Your face is neither positive nor negative and Felix spins, skirt flaring, staring downwards still.

"And what's the occasion here, darling?" You question.

Felix makes a confused noise in his throat and looks up to you just a little more.

"Why have I received such a beautiful gift today? You look amazing, Fe."

Felix leans forward to kiss your nose and giggles when your hands roam under the skirt and squeeze his cheeks.

"I've wanted to wear a skirt in the bedroom for a while, but wasn't really sure how you'd react."

"Awwww baby, never be worried about anything like this. I might be confused but I love you so I'll never react badly."

Your comforting words are genuine and Felix wonders how far they truly reach. Would you say the same if he wanted to have a threesome with one of his closest friends? Or said he had a crush on, was practically halfway in love with, said friend? It's not what tonight is about and the thoughts fade when your lips connect.

You're so, so gentle with him and Felix sinks into you. Felix's wandering hands spur your own and suddenly it's like you're horny teenagers again that can't get enough of each other. Your hand slips back under the skirt and the easy access is fun, especially if he plans to wear nothing under it like he is now. Easy access to start jerking him off, and you happily do so, keeping your mouth pressed against his.

Even with the anxiety Felix must have been imagining a number of situations with how hard he is in your hand. A sigh leaves his mouth as he rests his head on your shoulder. With one bite in your neck and only one sentence all of the power in the situation flows back to him.

"I want you to sit on my face and then ride me, doll."

Any stress you may have had is gone after that.

Similar situations happen several more times over the next few months. Felix either has a skirt on and is obviously wearing nothing under it. Or he changes into a skirt with nothing under it when it’s clear you’re going farther tonight. Each time you’re caught a little off guard by how truly pretty he is. Lee Felix is sunshine, rainbows, and starlight of course but it’s like the skirt gives him a little extra confidence to shine brighter for you.

So one hurdle down, only two more to go, great. Felix has never been so glad to have incognito mode with the number of phrases he googles related to 'how to bring up wanting a threesome with your significant other.'

It's honestly not that useful, as the so-called advice was generic things he could've gotten from anyone. 'Trust them and they'll trust you' or 'do it with someone you both trust' like thanks he knows all of this already.

Your next take-out dinner and movie night brings some strange behaviour from Felix. He's quiet where normally he'd be commenting on these extraordinarily stupid characters. When one of them completely ignores the obvious thing and Felix doesn't react in the slightest you know he's not paying attention at all.

He certainly pays attention when you stop the movie and straddle his lap. Your hands cup his face and your forehead rests on his while your eyes meet.

"What's on your mind, Pixie? Don't try to avoid it either, I know."

Your gentle compassion almost makes Felix want to spill everything. It all bubbles up to the tip of his tongue but then he thinks of the possible disgust or heartbreak and pushes most of it back down.

"You know how you said I don't have to be uncomfortable bringing up anything about... bedroom life?"

You giggle at the euphemism and how adorably shy Felix gets about it when not in the act. Regardless, a hum of assent vibrates your throat.

"I've been thinking about having a threesome." He blurts then squeezes his eyes shut, not allowing your reaction to reach his eyes.

The small boop your finger leaves on his nose leads him to open his eyes. Nothing about your expression is negative and you look at him as fondly as ever.

"Do you-"

"Chan."

A bright, fond laugh bubbles over your lips.

"Sorry love, you just answered so quickly. Sure, we both trust him. We can talk to him about it and... arrange a day."

Arrange sounds more formal than you intend but that's what it is. With the weight off of his mind, Felix is able to make fun of the new characters not seeing the plot right in front of them.

Chan knows this is a bad idea, he even cares that it's a bad idea, and yet he agrees. Backing out at any time is always an option, neither of you will be mad. It doesn't matter because he won't. Even if it hurts he will take the one chance he may ever get to screw around with both of his crushes.

There was no pretense of a normal hangout. You texted Chan that you wanted to talk about something. When you all sit down Felix ends up doing the talking about it since it was his idea in the first place. You both want to have a threesome with him.

It takes all of Chan's willpower not to coo at the blush that spreads across Felix’s face and ears. Also, a significant amount of brainpower to agree with the right amount of excitement. Not too little that you think he's unsure or doesn't want it wholeheartedly. But not too much that you are suspicious about any underlying feelings or motives he could have.

Really, you're just thinking about your boyfriend and how cute he is. Not anything against Chan but you love Felix with every cell in your body and it pours out of you often. He can see it from a mile away and doesn’t mind because he’d love to be doing the same thing. Looking at Felix with all the fondness in the world that lets each side know that everything’s going to be ok. But alas, a threesome will have to do for now. Or forever, honestly.

Then the fun part of it comes: interests. What does Chan have that he likes to do, and would like to do with you. Vice versa, what are you comfortable with and want to do with a sudden, if trusted, third-person present.

"I'm wearing a skirt," Felix says.

You smile at how easily he's able to say it, a stark contrast to before. You know that it will give the same confidence on the day of all of this as well. Surprise flits over Chan’s face but he just nods and doesn’t say anything more.

"I want to dominate both of you." Chan brings it up first, any type of power play and dynamics.

You and Felix look at each other then back at him and both nod excitedly. Chan already has strong leadership qualities, especially around all of the boys so really this makes sense. It will be very attractive for him to be giving you full orders and expecting them to be followed. Even thinking about it makes your brain work overtime and you have to physically shake yourself out of it.

"Felix and I… we'll just see how it works out. But we’ll both listen to you, for sure. Sound good?"

You have to check with Chan if he's going to be in charge of both of you. A quick look between both of you and then he nods.

A moment goes by and you look at Felix with a smirk on your face. He frantically shakes his head before you turn back to a visibly confused Chan.

"Felix over here has a strength kink. Wants someone to manhandle him a bit." You drawl and Felix doesn't even mock tackle you.

"Yeah, well you have a size kink! Wanting someone to look down at you and hands fitting around your limbs."

Felix sticks his tongue out at you as you feel your cheeks heat up to the temperature of the sun. Perhaps Chan fits you better than first anticipated. Strength and size in one, not to mention some other interests he slots right into.

"Any kinks you both have and aren't about to expose to me?"

You and Felix easily speak in unison.

"Praise and hands."

The moment you say that Chan reaches his hands out and lays them vertically so you can see the incredibly veiny backs. Imagining those fingers in any of your wet holes has you readjusting your legs and you can hear Felix do the same next to you.

Felix clears his throat in an obvious attempt to quickly move along from that.

"Anything you have in mind, Channie?"

The nickname is affectionate and if you didn't know better you'd think the tips of Chan's ears are flushed under his curls.

"Praise for me is good, no matter who’s giving or receiving it. I like nicknames or pet names, titles as well."

When it becomes clear Chan isn't elaborating you both lean forward in a clear gesture for him to continue.

"Ok. Baby, bunny, angel, beautiful. For myself? I dunno, choose some. Particular titles especially."

You all have flushed cheeks as this is becoming a reality, hearing Chan say these things out loud. Hopefully, you'll both be saying some of them as well. One title sticks in your mind and you’ll just have to test whether he’s into that or not.

"Safewords." You state and both men nod. "We use the colour system generally. Green, yellow, red.”

"Sure," Chan easily agrees. It only slightly surprises you that he knows, and has probably used that exact safeword system before.

You lean forward to rest your cheek on your palm.

"I mean... I think that's everything? We can have a phone call or hangout if there's anything else."

Okay but... when? When are we gonna do this?" Felix points out.

It had gotten lost in actually arranging but the goal of this was actually enacting it all so that fact was a bit important.

"Like 2 weeks from now?" Chan says.

You consider it, a fair amount of time to go but not too far either. Enough time to mentally prepare but not to freak out fully and leave the country. You look at Chan then Felix who voices his agreement.

"Alright then, Saturday in 2 weeks. Come over for dinner, Chan. We can ease into it that way."

You stand and Felix follows. Heading to the door you both give Chan a hug, Felix longer and tighter than yours as usual.

You step out and turn around to face Chan again.

"See you later, daddy." You wink.

Felix purposefully makes his voice lower and repeats the playful words. It's obvious he tries to hide it but Chan shivers at Felix's voice. You only knew to look because he has the same effect on you.

The two weeks pass entirely as normal. A couple hangouts with various groups of the guys and knowledge of the future threesome doesn't invade your mind. The day before you thought Felix would be visibly stressed already but he seems entirely fine.

He seems fine to you, but Felix is good at hiding his emotions if need be. And he is freaking the fuck out. There came some point where it really settled in that this was a plan, it was happening, and it was going to be tomorrow. From that point on it had hardly left his head. Hiding his feelings while fucking around with the man? Is that even possible for a Lee Felix? It doesn’t really matter because it’s already happening, so really something is going to happen and he is determined not to ruin it.

To calm himself down there’s a number of things he can do, yet he chooses the one that wouldn’t make sense to most people. Calling his best friend, the slight hyperactive squirrel man, Han Jisung. Jisung is adept at the two things that can bring Felix out of almost any type of nervous state, whether with genuine comfort, or with chaotic distraction.

Yet when he calls, Jisung seems to know something is different.

“Soooooo, what is up my dude? How have you been?” Jisung sings.

“Ah, just a bit nervous for no reason and I know you’re not doing anything.”

Jisung is silent for a couple moments longer than the normal, puzzling.

“You sure it’s nothing? You’ve been…. extra. The past week, especially.”

Felix goes over the last times they’ve hung out together, especially as a group of 9. There’s nothing out of the ordinary that he thinks Jisung may count as ‘extra’, whatever that even means.

“Extra what, Ji? What are you even talking about?” Felix laughs, assuming Jisung will too and they can just move on.

“You’ve been staring at Chan like way more than usual, dude. I thought it was ridiculous before, but now… he’s either denser than a brick or ignores it.”

Felix’s mouth drops open and he’s silent for nearly half a minute. Other people have noticed how often he stares at Chan? Jisung noticed how much he stares at Chan? This is an entire disaster. And if Chan ignores his stares, then what does that mean. Actually, no, if he goes too far down that route then he’s going to chicken out of all of your plans and he wouldn’t dare ruin it.

“Are you the only one who noticed?” Felix asks hesitantly, mouthing please in hopes that if someone else has noticed as well, that it’ll just go away.

“No… Jeongin and Seungmin are wayyyyy too observant for that, the little demons. Minho, too. I haven’t heard from the others but if I’ve noticed then…” Jisung trails off. He’s not the least observant in the group. That title goes to Felix and Chan themselves. But he and everyone else would put him low on the list, so if he knows then almost everyone else probably does too. Well, shit.

“I’ll only tell you if you promise with your whole heart not to tell anyone else.”

Felix’s heart is pounding and it thrums loudly in his ears. Is he really about to tell someone else about this? Jisung, no less.

“I’m concerned but yeah, of course. Unless it’s a crime.”

Felix forces out a laugh, and he knows Jisung can tell but neither of them comment on it.

“So… maybe I have a bit of crush on Chan. It’s fine, it’ll go away eventually and I can just move on, but for now. I have crush feelings.”

Jisung is silent and Felix has to check if he hung up at some point.

“So you stare at your ‘just crush’ like he put the moon up himself? Not believing that or a second. But I understand now, so whatever. You gonna tell them or…?”

Felix lets out a real laugh this time, then scoffs like Jisung’s proposed robbing a bank tomorrow.

“And have them break up with me? No thanks, I’ll just live with it.”

This time its Jisung scoffing so hard his throat will be sore.

“You’re an idiot. If they love you, and we both know they do, then it’ll be fine. Be honest about your feelings, it’ll only make you stronger.”

Felix considers it, turning the idea over in his mind. Inevitably, his mind turns to your possible reactions. His dreams come first, the ones where you somehow like Chan as well and Chan likes you both. Or the ones where you’re ok with it. Or any of the ones where Chan even likes him back. But of course, the more likely reality. Where you’re uncomfortable or disgusted. Or want to… nope.

“I’ll think about it. Thanks Ji.”

“Sure man, anytime. Popcorns going so I’m gonna dip. Good luck.”

Felix is left in the silence of the bedroom to ponder. They both know he won’t do it but the wonderful fantasies make it seem possible. Some wonderful fantasies can come true, somehow.

The stress explodes in the morning. Felix is out of bed when you wake up and when you exit the apartment is practically sparkling. From top to bottom, you’d believe this house had never been lived in if your pictures and souvenirs weren’t everywhere. There's also a wonderful cookie smell coming from the kitchen, and it draws you in. Whenever Felix bakes it floods through your apartment and makes it seem like a home. Cheesy, yes, but it’s really what he does to you.

Felix's back is to you when you come in the kitchen and you wrap your arms around his stomach. He lets out a small squeak of surprise before giggling, face lighting up at you being awake finally.

"You do know Chan's been here before right? You didn't have to do this."

Felix sighs and turns to face you, leaving a kiss on your forehead.

"I know I didn't have to. I'm just nervous and all this kept my mind off of it for a bit."

You coo at your adorable boyfriend and peck his pink, pouting lips.

"No matter what happens he's just Chan. You're still you, I'm still me. It'll be ok, Fe."

The sigh Felix lets out has a different meaning to you both. You assume it's clearing his mind and re-centreing himself. Really it’s thoughts of how, at the end of the day Chan is never just Chan for him, but this is reality and not his ideal world. He doesn’t get to have two attractive partners to come home to every day. The timer goes off behind him and the reminder makes the smell of cookies flood your nose and mind again.

"Join me on the couch when you're done, baby. I'm gonna work on some stuff for a bit."

The reminder of cookies existing every timer goes off is delightful, and really the only reason timers should exist ever. Most of the way through the batter, Felix dances into the living room and feeds you one, delightful as always. He’s beautiful like this. The lingering stress showing on his face from the morning is entirely gone. The blinds are finally open for a reason and sunlight reflects off your sunshine.

The day passes easily once it begins and Felix is done practically vibrating out of his skin. In the early afternoon, he even falls asleep with his head in your lap for a while. Looking at him is like looking at a sleeping kitten, curled up and peaceful.

It gets later, a bit darker and you pull up the recipe on your laptop. The kitchen barely fits 2 people but you and Felix work well enough together that there are few problems. It’s nice to just… coexist with someone else so peacefully and naturally. The door rings and you and Felix glance at each other, for just a bit too long before he patters away.

They both pop their heads around the corner and Chan joins you both, squishing the kitchen space even more. He gives you both soft kisses on your foreheads, smiling and greeting you quietly. As soon as he does you and Felix look at each other and nod, kissing his cheeks at the same time. His cheeks flare bright red and his eyes widen but he quickly recovers. Expression settling and laughing, even if his ears and cheeks don’t stop burning for quite a while. Then you notice the box, probably a dessert that you won't be getting to tonight. Or… you will get to dessert technically, it just won’t be any of the typical sugar.

It proceeds normally, you may even forget what your plans are for a minute. But as plates start getting emptier Felix is the first to tense up. Chan follows soon after but you manage to stay the calmest, at least on the outside.

Chan puts his hand on your knee first and you stand. Suddenly, Felix's grasp comes from your other side and tugs you towards him. He looks so… innocent that you just can't help but tangle your fingers together. At the same time, he tilts his head up towards you, waiting for a kiss. Your hands tangle in his hair and press your lips against his.

You both turn to Chan after and he's sitting up, completely straight and still. You round the table and he puts his hand on your hip. It doesn't escape your notice about how much of you it covers and you resist looking down to see it.

"Can we kiss you?" You ask, breath fanning across his lips.

He should say no. Say no, say no, saynosaynosay-

"Yes." He says with false ease.

You lean in and he lets you lead it, simply resting his hands on you. Felix comes up behind you and rests his head on your shoulder, watching.

Chan briefly bites your bottom lip but you pull away before too much happens in the kitchen. Before you can move Felix switches places with you and throws his weight against Chan. It's like he was prepared and his hands go around Felix's back. You take a good long look at them before playing with Felix's hair and taking your own turn to watch them.

"We should go to your bedroom." Chan pants out, eyes blown wide when he opens them.

"You heard him, baby boy. Follow him."

You giggle when Felix whines at the pet name.

"You're our baby boy tonight, aren't you?" You tease.

Chan feels something flare inside of him when you use such possessive words, especially "our" anything. In any other situation, he knows it would be "your" and it kills him. He wants so much more, but he cannot either of you entirely in the way he wants so much. It's not a controlling type, simply a statement. Felix is yours as you are his, and neither of you are Chan's.

The moment you reach the room the door is closed and you are pinned onto it. You watch Felix disappear to change but Chan makes sure your attention is back to him quickly. He kisses you again, but harder this time.

Felix feels like this is a dream. Maybe he's finally achieved lucid dreaming. Because he's standing in the bathroom changing his skirt and about to have a threesome with his significant other and best friend/crush. That can't be real. So he's ready to wake up and tell you about the totally wild dream he had. But not the feelings, because those are still very real.

He never wakes up. Instead, he pulls the skirt on and walks out to see you pinned against the door and Chan nipping at your neck.

When Felix appears your attention is immediately split between them. It goes back to Chan pretty quickly when he starts whispering in your ear.

"I certainly know what I want to do. First, I'll watch the 2 pretty kittens in front of me for a while. A pretty picture being painted right in front of me. I'll keep the rest to myself for now. Go kiss your pretty boyfriend and give me a show, alright sweetheart?"

He backs away slowly and you go to Felix, whispering in his ear as well.

"He's going to watch and wants a good show from us first. So let's give him one, huh?"

Felix throws his arms over your shoulders and nods. Before you can tug him in he looks at Chan who nods as well before pulling out your desk chair.

Your kiss with Felix is already heated and messy, the extra thoughts of an audience and pleasing that audience in mind. It moves faster than you normally would when in the bedroom. Though the tension of the whole day, and especially of the dinner may be enough to make up for that.

Your hands roam furiously around each other and each time your lips break apart you each let out a gasp before diving back in. Felix starts walking you towards the bed with slow steps and flips it around so you fall onto his lap. Before he can do anything you fall to the ground on your knees.

When you flip up his skirt and see nothing underneath you can hear Chan groan from his spot. Immediately you sink your mouth down, gagging just slightly as he hits the back of your mouth. Taking a second to breathe, you look up at Felix who already has his eyes closed. When you stop his eyes flutter back open and his hands go to your hair, resting there with no intention of pulling. You bob your head slowly, not taking him all the way in every time. A couple times you try to glance at Chan in the corner but he’s moved farther than what you can see. So, your attention is focused on Felix who’s very entertaining and responsive on his own.

It starts as low moans that tell you he’s feeling good but you’re already looking for the high whines that you know he gives out. You hollow your cheeks and swirl your tongue in that way you know he likes, and the low groans turn into higher moans. They’re quieter than normal and you can tell he’s holding back, which is understandable, but you want him to let go.

Your head gradually bobs faster and faster, with Felix’s moans getting higher and more frequent. With one particularly deep dip, he hits your throat and a loud whine breaks free. You do it again and again, letting Felix lose control. His hands twist in your hair, still not enough to cause any pain to you, but his hips stay still to let you set the pace. You know Felix is close and you both want it and are both ready to receive it, even so early in the night.

“No, no, little one. He’s not cumming yet.” Chan suddenly speaks, tone firm.

Felix whines and you make a disappointed noise and slow down, not giving him enough of anything anymore.

Felix pushes you off of him with a shuddering breath and a poorly concealed whine. After a moment of confusion, you switch places with him. He’s on his knees and starts peeling off your pants, with the noises of Chan shifting in the background. With every inch of skin that is revealed under your pants, he makes sure to kiss it, all the way down to your ankles. He pulls down your underwear after, with less reverence and more impatience this time.

Before he can dive in, as he so clearly wishes to, Chan clears his throat across the room.

“Felix.” Said man perks up and turns towards Chan, eager to please. “Turn them towards me and let me have a look, won’t you baby?”

You obediently don’t move and let Felix turn your body, spreading your legs as well. Even without looking down, you know that you’re soaked already. Chan’s groan confirms it and you shift impatiently. Felix waits though, until Chan nods, before turning you back and getting his mouth on you.

All things considered, he’s gentle but the build-up and tension makes each bit of pleasure like a shot of electricity through your body. He licks eagerly, tasting you and making you twitch. Your hands go his hair less nicely than his did before. You tug at the strands, which only makes him moan into you which makes your hips buck into his mouth. Each small sound from Chan makes you want to see and feel him but you wait, indulging in Felix as is.

Felix knows exactly how you want it and with every minute that passes your whines get louder and with each flick of his tongue your brain gets fuzzier. Chan is taking a relatively hands-off approach for now but even with his seemingly infinite patience, he must want more. It’s hard to focus on that when Felix is eagerly slurping at your wetness and making you want to ride his face. You test the waters by rolling your hips once, twice, three times. When neither man stops you, you roll them incessantly.

With no prior experience, Chan somehow seems to know exactly when to stop you from getting too close.

“Felix, stop.”

Felix eagerly obeys, and you whine loudly in disappointment. One look from Chan cuts you off and you resolve to not protest again when he finally walks over. He stands above both of you but looks down with fondness and not scorn.

“How should we do this, pretty pets?”

You don’t even look at Felix before boldly speaking to him, knowing it was mostly a rhetorical question.

“Fuck me! Please?” Your sudden boldness is tempered by the way that Chan looks at you and you dip your head down.

Felix visibly brightens once his fuzzy brain puzzles out that he’ll probably get to be back in your mouth. He’s the first one onto the bed and you follow, Chan coming up behind you. Your kiss with Felix is interrupted by Chan tugging your shirt over your head and shoulders. He pulls it off and you turn around to pull his own clothes off, bringing Felix over as well.

Chan laughs when you both eagerly tug at his own clothes, trying to pull everything off at once.

“Slow down little ones. You’ll get it all soon.”

You and Felix stop and stare when his shirt comes off and you are suddenly very aware of him. It isn’t that Chan hides how muscular he is, just that you didn’t pay too much attention to it before. Now, you’re certainly paying a lot of attention. It’s broken when Chan goes to Felix’s shirt and you’re as excited as usual to reveal what’s underneath.

Just the sight of them alone nearly has you drooling and your hands run over their bodies at the same time, hardly believing they’re both in front of you. There’s hardly a chance to admire them as they both want to see you as well and pull your shirt up, one hand on either side.

Chan’s hands get on you and dip lower, lower and all the way down to between your thighs. You shiver and watch his face, waiting for his next move. Felix’s hands go up, to your nipples. His warm hands on you makes you shiver but still, you watch Chan who just is not moving. It makes you want to whine and beg but you know, almost for sure, that he’d disapprove. So you wait. The light touches on your nipples makes you whimper and moan occasionally and Chan watches you.

With a slowness that makes you want to scream, he pushes one finger inside. Even the barest feeling of being full makes you shudder and sigh in relief. After a few thrusts of his fingers where he meets no resistance, he pushes a second one in. You make a high noise in your throat and lean back against Felix’s chest, who takes the easy opportunity to kiss along your neck and shoulder.

The sensitivity of being so close from Felix’s mouth is still there and it has you moaning louder than you normally would. One of your hands reaches out and grabs Chan’s hand that is laying on his thigh. He doesn’t stop you so you bring it to your mouth and suck on two of his fingers. Felix lifts his head and groans at the sight, Chan’s pretty hands in your beautiful mouth.

Both men seem to thoroughly enjoy just playing with and teasing you, and it feels so good that you honestly don’t want them to stop. But you’re also craving so much more. With reluctance, you pull Chan’s fingers out of your mouth and whine at him.

“Daddy, please!”

He raises an eyebrow at your insistent tone and pushes another finger into you. It makes your head fall back onto Felix’s shoulder but also increases the need of being filled by Chan right now.

“No~ need you to fill me up, please.”

He slams his fingers into you, hard and deep and it makes you gasp.

“Do these fingers not fill you enough? They just aren’t good enough for you.”

Felix behind you huffs then laughs, clearly caught between finding Chan’s teasing amusing or exasperating on your behalf.

“Don’t make me say it! You know what I want.”

Felix finally starts sucking marks on your shoulder and it makes you sigh happily, a good distraction for just a moment before Chan speaks again.

“I wanna hear you say it, sweetheart. I want to hear you beg.”

Chan’s tone makes even Felix gasp, his mouth disconnecting from you and a sudden, hot breath caressing your sensitive skin. You shiver from the many sensations on your body and the sudden addition of his clear order.

“Want… want your dick, please. Daddy, fuck me!”

After you’re done speaking Chan puts his fingers back in your mouth, letting you suck on them contentedly. If you’re going to get what you want you have to leave what you have and Chan pulls all of his fingers out of you at once. You know better than to whine so you hold it back, but your eyes screw shut in displeasure.

“All fours, doll. Come on now.” Chan coaxes, and Felix also sighs when he has to disconnect from you. Chan takes that time to get a condom, and when he turns he just admires you and Felix on the bed. A perfect picture, but one that he’s also involved in tonight.

You get on your hands and knees then just wait for them to touch you again. Felix knows he’s still a bit sensitive and waits for Chan to start. Chan with infinite patience that is now absolutely killing you. His hands are feeling you up, down your ass and thighs and back up again. When he notices how obviously impatient you both are he finally lines himself up with your entrance and pushes in.

It makes you sigh. The opening of your mouth prompts you to look up at Felix who smiles down at you. You push your neck out, wanting him in your mouth and he pets your head. His fingers lift your chin and make you look up at him again.

“Be good for us, baby. Make us feel good.”

You eagerly nod and he finally moves closer. Once the tip of his dick is in your mouth, you start swirling your tongue around it. The moment he thrusts in you open your mouth wider and let him use it. It doesn’t take Chan and Felix long, as close and in sync as they are, to set a rhythm where when one of them pushes in the other pulls out. Chan’s thrusts push you towards Felix so much that his cock is nearly always in your mouth fully.

At some point, you can feel the drool starting to drip down your chin and Felix coos while he wipes it away.

“So messy, baby! Drooling all down my cock.”

All you can do is hum in agreement and hope he hears it. Being absolutely ruined with him in your mouth is always a fun experience and having Chan behind you improves it quite a lot. Speaking of Chan. His hand has come around and two of his fingers are feverishly rubbing your clit. It makes the long-awaited pressure build-up and he groans when you clench around him.

“Such pretty pets in front of me. Wet holes dripping down our dicks and making everybody messy. You just can’t hold it in, can you little one? That’s ok, we know you’re enjoying it.”

Chan’s voice is raspy when he speaks and it bolsters your confidence to know how good he’s feeling, too. It’s not as if you can say or do much about it. Especially not when you can feel an orgasm building and he thrusts so hard to make you dizzy.

Felix broke back into high whines a minute or two ago. When he speaks, it’s strained and he can barely get more than a few words out at a time if he can think them at all.

“Gonna cum. I want you to- to swallow it. Holy fucking shit, your mouth is so good, honey.”

You open your eyes, when did they even close, to look up at Felix. Attempting to get across how good he feels and how badly you want it. His chest rises and falls with quick, harsh breaths. Chan is so good behind you, rubbing your clit in small circles and long length filling you up better than you dared to hope. Your own peak is building but can barely focus on that for now, no matter how badly you want to.

Felix hits your throat once then twice more and with a small cry and jerk of his hips he cums. His whole body quivers and trembles as his seed shoots down your throat. You cough on it for a moment but swallow it down. The convulsion of your mouth projects a high-pitched whine from his own.

The moment Felix leans back, and your mouth is still left open, Chan drives into you roughly. A noise of surprise that you barely recognize comes from you before you start moaning, feeling your own high so presently. With Felix no longer in front of you, Chan holds your hips and pulls you back, slapping against your skin even louder every time he thrusts in. The continued stimulation on your clit is almost overwhelming in its intensity.

Felix can see the grunts and groans leaving Chan’s mouth but can’t hear them due to your own keening moans. To everyone’s surprise, Chan cums before you do but doesn’t dare stop or slow down his pace, even when it overstimulates him. The movements of his hips are less fluid but it doesn’t make you feel any less pleasure. With each thrust, he had learned to hit nearly any spot you needed him to.

He’s left panting but is rewarded when you let out a gasp and something that sounded like ‘gonna cum’. Your whole body shivers when it washes over you and even still Chan thrusts which makes shake that much more intense. Eventually, he stops when it becomes far less pleasurable for himself, he has a limit, but still rubs circles on your clit. A distraction shows in the way of Felix who climbs onto his lap. The relief and pleasure are still coursing through you and you flop to your side, curling your legs up and inwards. You watch them kiss through blurry eyes and how Felix submits to him so readily.

“Lixie~ one more? Inside?” You pout.

Chan coos and runs a thumb over your puffed-out bottom lip. It’s always a bit of extra fun when you let Felix cum inside. It’s a bit messy which neither of you really wants to deal with afterwards. Tonight’s special so why not add an extra little bit of a reward for him?

Felix turns to you and gasps. When you don’t laugh it off, he moves in front of you.

“Can you ride me? If you’re not too tired, I mean, of course.”

The way he nearly spits out the words, like they just can’t come out fast enough is adorable. You prop yourself up on your hands and look at Chan over his shoulder, with wide eyes just barely seen by him.

“Go ahead, pets. I’ll join the show again in a bit.”

You giggle and nearly tackle Felix down by his shoulders. His hands go to your hips out of instinct but you sit on one of his thighs first. Sitting on his thigh, you nearly want to grind and ride on it, looking at Chan’s thighs makes you fully pout again. Those are some good thick ones that you’d love to sit on. Felix chuckles when sees what you’re staring at but tugs you forward by the hips to try and get you moving.

You make a noise of recognition and easily sit down fully on his dick. The familiar fullness makes you let out a small mewl.

“Does he feel good, kitty?”

“Mmh, yes. Really good, daddy.” Your voice is breathy, different from the fully voiced moans from when Chan was railing you before.

“Ride him then, doll.”

The order that you were actually waiting for comes and you bounce, slowly. Chan is intending to let you go at your own pace but when a fair amount of time passes, with a fair few whiny moans from Felix, he tsks.

“You can do better than that. Faster, harder. Make him feel good.”

You place both palms flat on Felix's chest and spread your fingers wide. Your thighs flex as you ride him and the slide makes you gasp. After you’ve set a steady pace for yourself you take your hand to your clit, starting a bit slowly but going quicker as the stimulation doesn’t quite satisfy you as you need it to. Felix watches you, enraptured. You try to look back whenever your eyes are open but it’s overwhelming and they swiftly screw shut again.

Felix is back to his low groans that you can nearly feel and it’s nearly unbearably unattractive. Chan thinks the same if the small noises he, unintentionally, lets out are any indication. He tries to mumble praises to you but more often it’s Chan who takes the lead.

“Such pretty little babies, putting on a good show. Only for daddy to see.” “You both look so cute and small. I’d be able to ruin you both so easily.”

His words and encouragement make you clench and Felix jerks his hips up into you more than once as well. It’s good and you want to keep going but soon your thighs are a bit sore and tired and you begin to slow down again, whining in disappointment.

“Looks like kitty can’t quite keep up anymore. Why don’t you do it instead, Lix?”

The familiar nickname used in such a different context makes Felix suck in a sharp breath and his eyes widen. He’d really like to get used to that but as it is he holds your hips and starts pumping. Felix just manages to hit different spots inside of you when he does it himself and he has you moaning loudly within a minute.

When you look back over at Chan he’s jerking himself off in time with Felix’s movements. He’s not sitting close enough for either of you to reach but his eyes flick all over both of you, taking it all in. Looking down at Felix, his eyes are completely closed but his mouth is open to let you hear his low moans. They get a bit louder and you can tell he’s getting close so you turn on the begging.

“Lixie, baby. Cum inside me, please. Want you to make it all messy and I wanna see it drip out.”

Felix grunts and starts cursing under his breath. In less than two minutes he spills inside you and the warm spurts of cum fill you up more. Your breath is heavy as you get closer again yourself. Chan finally joins you again, fingers replacing yours. Felix still jerks his hips into you as much as he can, but he’s too sensitive for too much of it. Still, Chan’s hand just works and you roll your hips into his hand to feel more. He barely has to do anything honestly. Still jerking himself off with the other hand you can tell he’s holding back by how tight his voice is.

“Use Lix and my hand to get yourself off, kitten. I’ll do it with you, too.”

Your mouth falls open and a long, loud moan comes out. Your second orgasm feels like an overflow of the senses, so much so that you barely even notice Chan spilling over yours and Felix’s legs. You come down with a shiver and your legs and fingers are left with the most shakiness.

“Up, sweetheart. We wanna see it drip.”

Felix’s voice is low and rough but not stern. You nod and slip off of him, laying down and letting them both see. It’s nothing you can see yourself but from both of their low noises, it’s very appreciated.

You’re all left panting, sweaty, and shaky. You stay on your back and throw your legs on top of Felix’s. Chan stands and shuffles off to find towels for you all first. It makes you recognize that you need water and you grumble and sigh before standing. Felix hears you and jumps up to get you on his back. Just as you get onto Felix’s back, Chan returns.

“Why don’t we dry ourselves off first, okay cuties?”

You both sit back on the bed and look up at Chan with wide eyes. He continues to take care of you both as best he can and it makes you even sleepier, eyes drooping occasionally. Felix keeps you awake with small jabs and pokes. Everything you all need is done and Chan has agreed to stay for the night. All the buses have stopped, Ubers seem sketchy, and any other arguments he may have are shot down. As well as the argument for him just sleeping on the couch. Felix wiggles himself in the middle and shoots a firm ‘cuddle me’ at Chan before snuggling happily down and going to sleep.

You and Chan share small glances of bewilderment before settling in as well. It’s hesitant but you can feel how Chan eventually moves in, centimetres at a time, to do something that could be considered as cuddling Felix, if you really want to stretch it. The bed is full but instead of feeling crowded you feel comforted, knowing two of your favourite people are the ones there with you.

Chan wakes first but doesn't move in a way that would indicate he's in anything but deep sleep. Once he's sure neither of you are awake he sits up and gazes at both peaceful, sleeping faces in front of him. You're both beautiful in the throes of passion but there is something about the peaceful light of day that pangs his heart differently.

Surreptitiously, under the blankets you and Felix hold hands but lay with eyes closed as you feel Chan looking, observing. He takes a heavy breath in that makes you want to sit up and ask, comfort him, but something about the stillness in the air stops you.

"Fuck," he curses lowly, but in a different way than the last night. "You're both so beautiful, I wish every morning could be like this."

You stay quiet, even if thoughts race through your mind, but sensitive Felix gasps, no matter how hard he tries to muffle it. Chan leans back against the wall to create as much distance as possible.

Felix sits up slowly and you follow a moment after. Chan lets out some nervous, forced chuckles. The confidence of yesterday has melted away, leaving the usual, shyer Chan sitting here instead.

"Channie?" He shudders. "What did you mean by that?"

He stutters and fumbles, trying not to lie but also keep feelings intact. Eventually, he just stops and freezes everything for a moment. Then before you can even think, he tries to leap off the large bed towards the door. Felix is fast and grabs one wrist while you rush to stand and grab the other to push him back down.

There is no fight, only an acceptance to sit back down.

"Channie, please." Felix chokes out the words and when you look at him he's on the verge of tears.

Why is unknown, but it's clear this is going to be a difficult conversation.

Chan sighs and runs a hand through his hair, flipping his head to look at both of you.

"I never thought this was going to happen, any of this. Last night, everything this morning. But whatever happens, don't let my words affect your relationship."

He looks at both of you separately to receive an agreement.

"I really like you both, romantically. Maybe even love but I've tried to avoid the thoughts. For obvious reasons."

In the silence of anticipation, Felix's tears had dried on his eyes but now they sit, teetering on the edge of his eyelids.

"Lix. Are you ok? You look like you're about to burst." You speak gently to Felix because he looks like a terrified little animal.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was never going to tell you."

Your confusion only grows at his vague words and you can't see Chan from the way he's turned his head.

"I understand if you wanna break up with me. I'd probably want to if the roles were reversed."

A gentle hand on his knee prompts Felix to raise his head and look at you.

"It's ok, love. I'm sure we can work this out. Just tell me the whole story first."

"Chan and I have been best friends for so long, years before I thought about dating anyone. He's seen all my highs and lows. Then you came and changed that a lot and we started dating. But still, somewhere along the way I... I developed feelings for him."

Felix curls himself so small it seems impossible and leans away from both you and Chan. You sit in stunned shock and try to make sense of everything that just happened. When your eyes focus again Chan's eyes are flicking between you and Felix. Felix.

You mentally curse and lunge towards him, embracing him in a tight hug.

"Can you look at me, my love?" You coax gently.

He sobs harder at the loving, familiar pet name coming from your mouth but obliges. Somehow still the prettiest man you may have ever seen, but that's not important.

"It's ok." You say simply.

Felix looks at you in confusion, sobs still wracking his body periodically even as he tries to hold them back.

"Your feelings for Chan, they're ok."

You can hear the small, confused noise Chan makes from his spot behind you but mostly you hear the loud whimper of Felix in front of you.

"What? Are you joking? How are you ok with knowing your boyfriend has a crush on someone else. His best friend, as well. One of the people you're both closest to. And you're ok with that?"

The points Felix is making aren't completely out there. But there's something that flares up in your chest, something amazing, when Chan and Felix interact so tenderly. Their normal banter is what you expect but when it's quieter or later they get softer and so do you when looking at them.

"I am. I like that you two have an incredible dynamic completely separate with me. Of course, I love talking to you both as well. I can't explain it, but it's there. So yes, it's ok."

Felix launches himself onto your lap and buries his face in your chest. You focus on him, nuzzling your nose in his hair and rubbing his back. To the point where you almost get lost in your own world completely. Of course, almost is the key word.

Chan watches in envy as you both drift off into a comfortable affection and closeness. There was just a whole confession but he can’t help but feel like he doesn’t fit perfectly, not yet anyways. He wants to hold you like that, or Felix, or both. Maybe later, not today. Today he needs to go home and let you have a day to yourselves.

Chan is off the bed before you can even speak and you and Felix look at him, puzzled.

"Haha, um, I just don't to y'know intrude on your morning routine or anything. You don't need to get up I'll just go, yeah. We can talk more another time."

Your deadpan look to Chan somehow increases as he says 'intrude' and you're sure Felix has pulled out his sad kitty look.

"Chan. Bang Chan. Christopher Bang. Sit down." You order.

Felix laughs when he follows your order, almost dazedly, and sits back down to fiddle with his hands.

"Can I kiss you? For real this time." You ask, Felix moves off your lap in anticipation.

Chan looks up at you with his jaw hanging down. He nods then closes his mouth and clears his throat.

"Yes. Please."

You're half on his lap with your arms around his neck before he pulls you in. After a dizzying minute or so you pull away.

Felix would be mad you got to kiss Chan with feelings first if it wasn't so damn attractive. When neither of you moves he whines and does grabby hands in that general direction.

You move out of the way and watch as Chan goes to Felix without hesitation. Chan is wider and could probably cover Felix up entirely from the right angle. They're so soft. Chan's hands are barely touching Felix's waist and Felix's hands are moving up Chan's arms and shoulders. They’re beautiful. Absolutely stunning. When they pull away from each other your hands go to rest on each of their shoulders’ and you level Chan with a stern look.

“Just listen until I’m done. No interrupting. Just listen.”

He has the presence of mind to just look slightly sheepish and nod.

“Me and Felix have been dating for a while but that will make you no less of a valued or important member of this relationship. If we’re going to do this then we all need to communicate our feelings to each other. So, Chan. If we ever, ever, make you feel left out in any way, you need to tell one of us. That goes for all of us in any situation.”

You sit back but Felix catches you and pulls you into his side. Chan follows his lead and moves in front of you, putting his long arms to use and hugging both of you. You all sit in peace and adoration for a bit before stomachs begin to grumble a bit. Chan is the first to disentangle himself and the look of disbelief that crosses his face all over again is almost comical.

"You're... This is ok?"

You giggle at his still present disbelief. Hesitantly, you reach one hand towards him and he grabs it and moves toward you. While still making eye contact he gingerly presses his lips to the top of Felix's head.

"It's real, Channie. I promise." You giggle then whisper.

Chan pulls his hand back and looks at both of his palms in shock. You give him a few moments then he reaches his arms back around both of you as best he can and buries his face in Felix's shoulder.

"Thank you." He mumbles.

"Three's a party, not a crowd for us.” You reply, leaning on Felix as well.

Felix is the glue that binds you two together, and the one that got you here in the first place. For not the first time and not the last, you're happy to have met him.

#stray kids smut #bang chan smut #lee felix smut #stray kids imagines #bang chan imagines #lee felix imagines #stray kids oneshot #bang chan oneshot #lee felix oneshot #bang chan x reader #lee felix x reader #stray kids x reader #stray kids scenario #bang chan scenarios #lee felix scenarios

247 notes · View notes

wherevermyway · 4 years ago

Text

be your confessional (1/?) // minbin // 18+

chapter one: cherry-flavoured nicotine series navigation: [desktop] [mobile]

⚠ POTENTIAL TW: READ WITH CAUTION! ⚠ pairing: lee minho x seo changbin rating: explicit! 18+ warnings/tags: obsessive compulsive disorder, cults, religious guilt, internalized homophobia, past sexual assault, cheating, smoking, tattoos. word count: 4,032 also on AO3

originally posted: 27 december 2020

It's been ten years since Changbin left the cult he was born into. He's been desperately trying to become a normal member of society, but sometimes it proves to be difficult. He has a normal office job, a normal roommate, and a normal life. At least he was trying.

this fic sounds a lot darker than it is. most of the dark things happened in the past and is briefly discussed/observed.

disclaimer: this is a work of fiction! any reference to persons in this work of fiction are purely coincidental. the characters referenced from Stray Kids are interpretations loosely based on their personalities in the group and do not represent the real people behind the personas. if this, or any of the content included in the warnings above make you uncomfortable, please stop reading now.

“Would you stay still? The Mark is going to come out imperfect if you keep moving.”

The voice felt like nails on a chalkboard, making Changbin nauseated just hearing it. He couldn’t help but twitch as the tattoo machine etched black lines into his skin, black ink and blood blending as the tattooist wiped at his chest.

To most sixteen-year-olds, getting a tattoo so early was a sign of rebelliousness, something to be envied by others. To Changbin, however, this was not a tattoo he would wear with pride. The X, surrounded by four triangles and enclosed in a circle, was something he felt shameful over.

“The X means you are nothing. You must follow the four principles: morality, service, responsibility, and submission to be whole, much like the circle. That is The Mark.”

The words hurt more than the tattoo being carved into his sternum. Everyone in their fellowship was forced to get The Mark at sixteen, if born into it, or when they were deemed worthy after joining.

Changbin didn’t want this. He didn’t want to be marked with a brand that rendered him unworthy, as nothing more than a pawn to some bullshit deity that some power-hungry man came up with fifty years ago. He loved his parents, he truly did, but he never understood why they fell for the words that The Leader spat out every week. The Leader wasn’t even charismatic; perhaps his parents were just vulnerable and stupid.

It didn’t matter.

“Wear your Mark with pride, Son,” The Leader whispered in his ear, continuing to dig his nails into Changbin’s wrists. “You are one with The Universe, one with Us, one with Me. Together, we are one in responsibility.”

“One in morality,” the tattooist nodded.

“One in service,” his father continued.

There was a pause as Changbin tried to choke back tears. He knew he had to complete the oath, but the lump in his throat and the burning of the skin on his chest made it difficult. The Leader cleared his throat, digging his nails into Changbin’s skin further, until he cried out and shook his head. “One in submission!”

One in submission.

Fuck submission.

Changbin nearly fell off of his bed as he thrashed awake. He was unable to make sense of his surroundings, trying to calm his rapid breathing and focus his eyes on something, on anything. He hated this nightmare; it haunted him for years, and they were increasing in frequency again.

It was irrational, but he needed to make sure. Changbin kicked his sheets off of him, untangling his legs from the prison his sheets tried to trap him in. As he made his way to his feet, he tore off his shirt, haphazardly throwing it somewhere across his room.

He needed to make sure.

Moving towards the washroom was mechanical, automatic. He did this so many times, waking up in the middle of the night to run off and check his skin. It was 37 steps from his bed to the sink. 37 steps to security.

Step 35: collide with the door.

Step 36: turn the light on.

Step 37: stare at the tired reflection in the mirror.

A wave of relief washed over Changbin as he stared at the dark raven that sprawled across his chest, wings touching the tips of his shoulders and the open beak pointed up towards his left shoulder. It held a deep meaning to him, but it was more important that it completely covered up that stupid fucking mark.

It hid away the years of guilt and shame, the obsession and compulsion that came along with conforming to each intricate, demanding rule that the cult ordered. The years of pain would never be totally washed away, but it was getting easier with each passing day.

“Hey,” a tired voice from the doorway startled Changbin, causing an electric jolt to course through his body. He turned his head over his shoulder and stared, blinking a few times to make sure it was really his roommate, Jisung, standing there.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he sleepily mumbled, nervously rubbing the tip of his shoulder with his thumb as he nibbled on his lip ring.

Jisung leaned up against the door, running his fingers through his vivid red hair. “You didn’t. I was already awake. Besides, it’s almost 5:30, so I figured I’d just get up and deal with the day.” They stared at each other for a moment, before Changbin turned back to look at his reflection in the mirror.

“You ever think it’s gonna stop, the nightmares?”

“Dunno,” the redhead shrugged as he met Changbin’s eyes in the mirror. “It’s been awhile since you woke up like this, though. You gonna be okay when it comes up?”

It hadn’t been long since he woke up like this, it had just been a while since Jisung woke up to Changbin acting on his compulsion. The black-haired man sighed, biting at his lip as he ran his eyes over his skin. “I’ll get over it. Hopefully he gets what he deserves.”

Jisung took a step forward, softly gripping Changbin’s shoulder and smiling at him in the mirror. “I know you will, but don’t be afraid to lean on me, dude. I’ll be here to help you through it, I promise.”

“Thanks, man,” Changbin smiled back, then looked down to his hands, staring at the hangnails and scabs that had littered his fingers. He wanted nothing more than to tear into his skin and tear away the imperfections that he had created during one of his episodes. The momentary lapses in rationality, where he would ferociously tear his nails apart, rip off hangnails, the lapses were the only thing that made the intrusive thoughts stop.

“You wanna hit the gym early? I know you’re not gonna go back to sleep any time soon, so might as well be productive with our time.”

“Yeah,” Changbin sighed, looking at himself in the mirror one more time before he turned the light off. “Might as well.”

Ten days until the hearing.

“Good morning!”

Fuck. Changbin tried to stealthily roll his eyes as he walked into the office. He hated the paralegal, Lee Minho. Minho was everything Changbin was not: nice, loveable, innocent, and a good church boy who was pure. Everyone loved Minho, because he was safe, an easy pill to swallow. Changbin was not an easy pill to swallow; he was covered in tattoos, ears decorated with jewellery, hard around the edges, and abrasive to most people.

“Yeah,” Changbin grunted, trying to avoid saying much else as he made his way to his office. It was too early to deal with someone so chipper, not without copious amounts of caffeine.

“Wait!” Minho called after him, and Changbin didn’t bother to hide his disgust as he stopped. He heard the shuffling of papers, and then Minho was suddenly by his side. “Mr. Bang is away from the office today, and he told me to pass off some of the Dawson v. Doebring case off to you.”

“Walk and talk, then,” Changbin didn’t bother waiting for Minho to follow him. “If Chan’s out, that means we’re busy today.” There was an itch under his skin as he lost count of the steps from the front door to his office, and it made him tense.

There was a bit of a squeak that came from Minho as he followed Changbin to his office. “I’ve got your back, Mr. Seo.”

Changbin couldn’t hold back a groan as he stopped dead in his tracks. He hated when people addressed him by his last name. “Stop calling me that,” he took a step closer, getting into Minho’s face. “I keep telling you, only address me as Changbin.”

“But,” Minho started, nervously backtracking his words incoherently.

He looked at Minho with a pleading gaze, trying to not seem vulnerable. Part of him wanted to tear into Minho because they did this every week, but the pitiful look that Minho had painted on his face made Changbin feel like a horrible person. It felt like he was yelling at a child for something stupid and only out of frustration. “Please, just… don’t call me by my last name.”

Minho nodded his head and bit his lip.

“Thank you,” Changbin sighed, turning on his heel and beelining towards his office.

“Sorry, Changbin,” Minho said, curling into himself a bit as he trailed Changbin.

The younger man shrugged as he sat down at his desk. “Don’t worry about it, Minho. Just…” he let his voice trail off as he looked down at his stacks of paperwork. There was a lot to do before he was going to be absent for several days due to the hearing.

“Don’t pretend like you didn’t hear me. The leader deserves to die a slow, and painful death. Fuck this goddamned cult!”

That had earned Changbin a slap across the face from his father.

“Blasphemy is a sin, Changbin.” Despite being furious, his father’s voice was exhausted. He tiredly grabbed a black book off of the table and passed it to the young man. “You should be grateful that The Leader accepted you back into his embrace after the stunt you pulled.”

Changbin shook his head, grabbing the book his father offered and tossed it across the room, colliding against the vase on the dining table. “He should be fucking grateful I didn’t take this to the cops.”

Another slap to the face.

The younger man licked his teeth and shot an icy glare towards his father. “You know this isn’t right. You’re really going to side with that fucking monster over your own son?”

There was a painful silence that lingered in the air as they stared down one another, until his father broke the tension. He didn’t look like he wanted to say the words he had been thinking, but he repeated them anyways, his voice empty and distant.

“One in responsibility, one in morality, one in service, one in submission.”

Changbin didn’t bother. He scoffed as he took a step back, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re as much of a monster as him, you know?” His mother sat on the couch, curled up into herself as she stared off in a dissociative trance, trying to remove herself from the situation. “You’re going to actively defend and dismiss the things your beloved leader has done to me? Did you forget that I’m your fucking son?”

There should have been a slap, but Changbin’s father just looked down. His expression was hard to read. There was a look of shame and a look of remorse, but his eyes were dead.

“Get out of my house.”

Changbin’s mother lifted her head, opening her mouth to say something, but nothing came to fruition.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Changbin shook his head. “I’m not living with someone that doesn’t stand up against their son being abused and assaulted for years by some fucking psychopath that thinks he’s a god.”

“Come back here!” His father demanded, but Changbin was having none of it.

He turned on his heel and tried to remain composed as tears rolled down his face. “You’re both dead to me. I hope that, when this whole fucking cult gets torn apart, you both come down with it all.”

It had been ten years since he had seen his parents last, and he would be seeing them again in ten days.

“You’re making your fingers bleed,” Minho’s voice pulled Changbin back from the depths of his memories. “Are you okay, Changbin?”

No, I’m not okay. Never have been.

“It’s fine,” he grumbled, grabbing a tissue from the box on his desk. “Sometimes happens when I think too hard.” Ten days. He was still partially lost in the abyss of the past, and he was afraid he’d never fully shake the vise grip that the cult had around him.

Minho frowned, setting his notepad and pen down on the desk in front of him. “Can I ask you something kinda personal?”

No. I don’t want you to know anything about me.

“What is it?” He blotted the tissue around his fingernails until the blood was mostly gone, then dropped the tissue in the bin.

The older man brushed his brown hair away from his eyes, and sat forward. “Is law school really worth it? How did you know it was right for you? Like, I see you and Mr. Bang spend months over these cases and part of me is interested in applying, but...”

Fix the imperfections.

Changbin stood up, trying to fight the urge to pick at his fingers. “Can this wait a minute? I need to go wash my hands off.”

Minho nodded his head once. “Sure, sure. I’ll finish making notes on this file.”

127 steps from his desk to the washroom. He counted every step mentally as he walked. Anything to keep his thoughts away from tearing the flesh next to his fingernails off in nervousness, not until he was alone.

Step 126: open the door.

Step 127: scan the room.

It was an additional three steps to the third sink. Three was a good number.

Changbin ran the water a bit too cold for comfort as he stuck his hands under the faucet, ravenously tearing at his hangnails, pulling them off and turning the porcelain of the sink a shade of pink for a split second. The blood would drip down, then rapidly desaturate and dissolve into the water.

Fix the imperfections.

He hated these thoughts. Sure, the medications he had been on helped, and the therapy appointments he sometimes went to had helped him with better coping mechanisms, but this was the only thing that made sense to him, that actually felt like there was a payoff of serotonin. Changbin didn’t tear into his skin because he liked it — it hurt, actually, and it was incredibly uncomfortable — but because his brain told him he had no other choice.

“Obsessive-compulsive disorder isn’t uncommon in cases like yours,” his therapist told him. “Children develop coping mechanisms like skin picking or excessive handwashing amongst other things to gain control in their lives when things don’t make sense and they don’t have a way to express that in a healthy manner. Anxiety disorders are common: obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol and/or drug use and abuse, eating disorders…”

“Fuck that goddamned cult,” Changbin whispered under his breath, his voice laden with venom. “Fuck that man, fuck my parents. Fuck all of them.”

He let the water wash over his hands until his hands started to shake from the cold. Anything to numb the pain.

“You look pale,” Minho had, again, given Changbin an unwanted statement, and the younger man gritted his teeth as he bit his tongue.

Fuck you, too, you prudish brat.

“How’s the case review?” He deliberately ignored the concern Minho had as he sat at his desk, clasping his hands together and resting his chin against his fingers.

Minho batted his eyelashes a few times, giving Changbin a look of worry. “The case review is fine, but I don’t know if we’re going to have this ready by the end of the week.”

“Guess we’ll have to work harder.”

The men sat in silence for hours, poring over their evidence for the case. When Changbin could fully immerse himself in a case like this, it dampened the intrusive thoughts in his head. He felt somewhat normal for a little while, and it was a welcomed change.

“It’s half past two, Changbin,” Minho whined, looking up from his paperwork. “Can we take a break for now?”

It took a moment for Changbin to pull himself away from the paragraph he was on, taking a highlighter to some of the words. “I assume you want to get something for lunch, right?” He didn’t bother looking away from the document, because he didn’t want to look at Minho’s sad eyes.

“That’d be nice, yeah.”

“Then go,” Changbin shrugged.

“You should eat something, too.” Minho leaned in on the desk, trying to get into Changbin’s line of sight. “Maybe take a break from all of this.”

“Fine,” Changbin sighed, grabbing his glasses off of his desk and adjusting them on his face. “Chan said I should be nicer to you, anyways. How about that French place down the street?”

Minho’s smile was soft, genuine. “That sounds perfect.”

Changbin hated the fact that Minho was so nice. It felt fake and unwarranted. He saw a lot of his younger self in the way that Minho acted: fake kindness, putting others before himself, a general sense of being lost. He knew that the other man was deeply wrapped up in some sort of religion that took up all of his time outside of work.

It wasn’t obvious until Changbin watched the way he talked about his fiancée. It felt like she was a prop or a chore: just another thing for Minho to deal with.

“Hey, congrats, man!” Seungmin, the other new paralegal, had excitedly shouted one day a few weeks prior. “Finally settling down like a real adult, huh?”

Changbin poked his head out of his office door, ready to scold the paralegals for being so loud, but the look on Minho’s face distracted him. For someone being congratulated, he looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” he had meekly said, sinking into his shoulders a bit as he darted his eyes around. “She’s great. My parents have been pushing me to bite the bullet for months now, and this weekend seemed like it felt right.”

Doesn’t look like it feels right.

Changbin stood in his doorway, observing the two of them chatter back and forth, watching the discomfort on Minho’s face every time Seungmin asked him questions about his fiancée. It was like he was trying to talk with a wedge of lemon in his mouth: constantly scowling and wincing.

“We’re gonna get married in a few months,” Minho said with a sigh. “Her parents want a winter wedding, and my parents just want me to get married.”

Seungmin shifted his weight to the other foot. “Dude,” he folded his arms, his tone turning more serious. “You sure about this?”

Minho shrugged. “Yeah. It’s what I’ve gotta do. Nobody else in my community waits this long to get married and start a family.”

Community.

Changbin tried to stifle a scoff with a fake cough when the two men noticed him standing there. “Sorry, I wanted to offer congratulations. I was also looking for the corporate notes for the Smith v. ParaCorp case, Minho.”

“Oh,” Minho nodded, his face flushing as he scrambled around his desk. “Yeah, I’ve got them somewhere, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Changbin shook his head and turned to walk back to his office. “Just have them on my desk in a couple of hours.”

As much as Minho annoyed him, Changbin felt somewhat bad for him. He didn’t know the specifics of what all Minho was involved in, but it sounded deep-rooted and like he was stuck. Chan told him to try and be nicer to his paralegal, but sometimes annoyance won out over niceness, but he was at least trying.

Somewhat.

“So,” Changbin dug into his jacket and pulled out his vape cartridge as soon as he and Minho were outside, “how’s the wedding prep going?” He eyed Minho out of the corner of his eye as he inhaled, the cherry-flavoured nicotine cloud leaving his lips a moment later.

It was a rude question to ask, given the circumstances, but he wanted to try and confirm a theory that was burning in the back of his head, under the guise of caring about Minho’s personal life.

A theory that was slowly unravelling to be truth. Minho shrunk a bit, kicking a stray rock down the sidewalk as they walked. “It’s,” he paused, tucking his hands into his pockets, “I guess it’s going? Maria and her family are working on most of it.”

Go figure.

“You don’t seem very excited for a man that’s about to get married.”

They walked in silence for a bit. 40 steps from the entrance to the curb. The stoplight ahead of them was red, and cars rushed past them as the air lingering between them went stagnant.

“I’m not excited about it.” Minho’s voice was quiet, almost too quiet for Changbin to pick up on. “Not at all, actually.”

The younger man took another pull from his vape, then rolled his tongue over the stud in his lip. He should have pretended like he didn’t hear Minho, but curiosity always got the better of him. “Wanna talk about it? Sworn to client confidentiality.”

Minho scoffed, anxiously tapping the toe of his shoe against the ground. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t love her, do you?” The light turned green, the orange hand turning into a white stick figure, but neither of them moved.

The older man looked up, his eyes glistening a bit as they stared forward. Some stranger walked past them and flipped them off, but neither of them paid the stranger any mind. “Are you actually supposed to love someone you marry, or is that some sort of fairytale? All of my friends are married and secretly miserable.”

“Dunno,” Changbin sighed, sticking his hands into his pocket as he stared at the light turn into a flashing hand. “Never been married. Never planned on it.”

“Why are you asking me this, anyways?” Minho turned to look at Changbin, a disgruntled look on his face.

“Why did you answer me?” Changbin tilted his head a bit to the side, looking at Minho with indifference. “I figured you wouldn’t say anything if you didn’t really want to talk about it. To answer your question, though, it’s been bothering me since you announced your engagement. You looked uncomfortable when Seungmin brought it up.”

Minho didn’t answer Changbin, instead taking a hasty step forward as soon as the light flashed back to a white stick figure.

“Wait, Minho!” Changbin reached out, practically ripping Minho’s sleeve off of him as he pulled him back from the road right as a car ran a red light, nearly running into Minho. The force of the pull knocked them onto the sidewalk, causing Changbin to land hard against the ground, barely missing his head colliding into the concrete.

Minho awkwardly laid on top of Changbin, staring down at him with terrified eyes. He grabbed the sides of Changbin’s neck and panicked. “Oh my goodness,” he whined, “Changbin, are you okay?”

He’s cute from this angle. Fear looks good on him.

“I’ll be fine,” Changbin says, unsure of where to place his hands. He’d never been this close to another man his age. It never hit him before, but Minho was good looking. Had he not been the pure, innocent church boy type, he would have been Changbin’s type. Minho, however, was innocent and literally planning a wedding that was coming up in a few months.

“Changbin,” Minho whispered, his cheeks turning a shade of crimson. There was a strange tension between them, like the air around them was full of electricity and they were being pulled together. Minho dug his fingernails into Changbin’s neck, slowly bringing his head in closer.

Don’t kiss the church boy.

He knew where his hands needed to be. Changbin brought his hands up to Minho’s head without even thinking twice, pushing aside the intrusive thoughts running through his head. The warmth of the older man was intoxicating as he brought their lips together.

Minho responded in kind, pushing a bit further into the kiss. They were getting strange stares, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the euphoric energy that danced around them as they kissed. He pulled away, then pressed his lips to the older man’s three times in total.

Stop kissing the engaged church boy.

Maybe he would make it six times.

Don’t kiss the engaged church boy who is probably heavily traumatized.

Nine times. Three times three for good measure.

Changbin had just literally fallen for the church boy, but he felt like he was potentially metaphorically falling for him now. Fuck the intrusive thoughts.

#be your confessional #skz fics #minbin #lee minho x seo changbin #seo changbin x lee minho #minho x changbin #changbin x minho #wherevermyway

8 notes · View notes

soundofseventeen · 6 years ago

Text

The Little Mermaid (Lee Seokmin)

Hello!! Onto my main boy!! Enjoy! Bye!

Master List

*Fairy Tale*

“Your Highness!” Minghao ran towards the beach, followed by 2 guards. Seokmin coughed on the beach, completely soaked with water. “Are you alright? What happened?” Minghao asked, wrapping a coat around the prince.

“A storm…” Seokmin breathed, finally able to catch his breath. “Lightning hit the ship, it caught fire…”

“We need to get you back up to the castle.” Minghao said, attempting to help Seokmin stand up.

“Wait!” Seokmin said, looking out into the ocean.

“What?” Minghao followed his gaze, just seeing waves crash against each other.

“Someone saved me.” He said, scanning the ocean as far as he could.

“What… How?”

“I don’t know… I just… This voice… I can remember the voice…” Seokmin said. They had to be out there. He then turned to scan the beach. “They were just here…”

“Seok…” Minghao lowered his voice, addressing his prince improperly. “We’re the only ones here, we should get back up to the castle and get you cleaned up. It looks like another storm is coming.” Seokmin looked a little bit longer, eventually sighing, slowly nodding his head.

“Okay… Okay, yeah. We should go…” He said, still scanning the beach. How did they get away so fast?

“Come on.” Minghao said, lightly nudging his friend. “We’ll get you up the castle and take care of you… Your parents were very worried when the crew came back without you…” Seokmin nodded his head, following Minghao back up to the castle.

As they walked away, you picked your head up above the stone you were hiding behind. Why you were hiding, you weren’t totally sure. Wait, yes you were. You knew the prince would probably panic to discover he was saved by a mermaid.

“Y/N, your father has been looking for you!” You heard, quickly turning around to see one of the guards swimming up behind you.

“Just one more minute…” You said, looking back to the beach. You sighed as your prince was already gone, sinking back into the water.

“You were trying to find humans again, weren’t you?” He said, leading you back to the underwater castle.

“No…”

“Princess, you know they’re dangerous. Why do you keep trying to get to them?”

“They’re not that dangerous.” The guard suddenly stopped, looking at you.

“Did you… Did you meet one?”

“No.” You lied. “No, I did not.”

*Today*

Seokmin yawned as he walked to the docks. This is was his least favorite part of his job, waking up extremely early in the morning. He stretched his arms over his head, shaking out his head as if that could wake him up more. He unlocked the baitshop, making his way inside to drop off his bag.

He then began his usual routine. He had to check all the nets for fish, separate them into their perspective drop off locations, then get the nets ready for the next day, then make his way to the customers who buy fish, then get the shop open for the day.

Pretty much the normal day to day.

He pulled the fish out of the first net, not too much but a solid catch for the day. Surely enough for his first couple sets of deliveries. The second net was the same, a decent amount but he could have hoped for more. As he walked to the third net, he swore he heard barking. He looked around, not seeing anything unusual. He listened for a bit, not hearing anything again. Seokmin shrugged, turning back to the nets, jumping at the spotted dog sitting next to him.

“Oh hello.” He laughed, reaching down to pet the dog. “Where did you come from?” He crouched down to get a closer look at the dog’s collar. “Now who do you belong-” He was interrupted by another dog jumping on his back, followed by several others, completely knocking him to the ground.

“Woah, woah, okay! Okay, everyone calm down!” Seokmin couldn’t help but laugh, struggling to get up from underneath all the dogs. The dogs took turns barking at him, each attempting to knock him back to their level. It took longer than he wanted to admit, but eventually he got all of the dogs to sit.

“Okay, what the hell? Where did you come from?” He thought aloud, looking at the row of dogs. 6 dogs sat in front of him. He scratched his head, eyes widened at the now empty net on the dock. “Oh no…” He walked over to it, sighing. The fish must have fallen back in the water during the chaos. Now he was going to be short for the day.

“Well, now look what you guys did.” He sighed, the dogs for some reason all sitting patiently waiting for him. He looked at them for a second, starting to reset the net. Maybe he could catch a couple more before he had to run his errands. As he picked up the net, he groaned, seeing a giant tear in the net. “Great. That seems about right.” He muttered, balling up the net to bring inside.

He started to walk towards the shop, slowly stopping and turning around. All 6 dogs had started to follow him. He took another couple steps, the dogs doing the same. Letting out a huff, he just makes his way into the shop, his new friends following. He quickly got the fish into coolers, then sat down and starting to search on his phone.

“Ah here we go…” He said, looking over at the dogs, again sitting peacefully. “There’s a pet clinic that will take in lost dogs. They should be able to get you guys home.” He smiled, looking at the dalmatian confused. The dog appeared to be pawing at one of the doors on the side.

“What are you doing buddy? Nothing’s in there.” He laughed, starting to herd the dogs into his truck.

*Fairy Tale*

“So… She can’t speak? At all?” Minghao asked, looking at Seokmin in confusion.

“If she can, she has yet to show it.” He said, fixing his own collar.

“What about sign language? If she can’t talk maybe she can sign?”

“That was my thought too, but I’m starting to think not. She just points at things and nods so far.” Seokmin sighed. When he found you on the beach, he swore you were the person who had saved him that day. He would have bet the entire kingdom on it. The only problem was that you couldn’t talk, and the person who saved him had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard.

“Do we even know if she speaks our language? That could be why she hasn’t spoken, she doesn’t know what’s happening.” Minghao offered, Seokmin shaking his head.

“She seems to understand what I’m saying. At least she’s reacting and kind of responding to the things I have said.”

“Well there has to be some way to communicate with her.” Minghao sighed, looking out the window at the sea. “Maybe writing?”

“We’d have to carry around paper and ink everywhere then.” Seokmin joked, Minghao shrugging.

“It would be better than the silence and pointing.”

“I guess it would.” He sighed, still wondering about the person who saved him that day.

“Come on sir, your silent lost princess is waiting for you.” Seokmin nodded, lightly shaking his hair before following Minghao out of the room.

You sat in a big comfy chair, a new dress, dry hair, staring at your legs. You had legs! Whole human legs! Complete with feet and toes and everything! All because you made that deal with the sea witch! Sure, you only had 3 days to get this prince to love you, but how hard could that be? If you succeeded, you would get your voice back and would get to stay human! If not…

Well, you just wouldn’t think about that.

Your head turned as you heard voices coming towards the room.

“Good morning.” Seokmin smiled, followed by Minghao. You waved a hand, shining a smile. “Did you sleep well?” You nodded your head.

“Can you write, miss?” Minghao asked, you looking at him for a second before nodding. “Here, this might help you communicate a little better.” He smiled, placing the paper and pen in front of you. You stared at it. It was much drier than what you were used to writing on. You slowly reached for them.

“So, what’s your name?” Seokmin asked, taking a sip of coffee. “You know, so I know what to call you besides... Miss...” You nodded, quickly attempting to write your name on the paper. It wasn’t as neat since the paper was rougher than what you’re used to, but it was legible.

“Y/N…” Seokmin said, nodding his head. He opened his mouth to say ask you another question, but then a dog quickly ran into the room, coming straight to you. You let out a silent yelp, pulling your legs onto the chair and staring at the animal in fear. Both Seokmin and Minghao looked at you in confusion.

“Pongo, here.” Minghao said, the dog quickly going to sit by his owner. “Sorry about that, he gets excited about new people.�� Minghao said, quickly leading the dog out of the room.

“Are you afraid of dogs?” Seokmin asked, you trying to process how to answer. You weren’t entirely sure what a dog was, but you assumed it had something to do with the animal that just came through here, so you slowly nodded your head. “I would not go to the stables then. We have about 100 puppies hiding in there.” Your eyes widened. What was a puppy? Was it bigger and scarier than a dog?

Seokmin turned to look out the window.

“How about this. It’s a nice day, why don’t I show you the town? See the sights?” He offered, you looking over at him. You quickly nodded your head again, standing up to follow him.

*Today*

“Would you look at this stuff? Isn’t it neat?” You grinned, digging through the box that had just arrived. It was mostly old knick-knacks, probably from the house of some older woman who was moving to a retirement home. Honestly, it was probably mostly junk. But not to you, to you it was fascinating. Chan just shook his head at you, trying to suppress a smile while reading a book.

“Whatever you say Y/N.” He said, leaning on the counter.

“What are you reading?”

“Some journal I found...” He muttered, closing the book and looking at you. “Anything actually worth anything in there?”

“Everything is worth something.” You said, pulling out some decorative salt and pepper shakers. You internally died over them, they had to be 30 years old at least! You turned around to show them to Chan, who just sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, well if you find something in there worth monetary value, let me know.” He grinned as you put the shakers down, continuing to dig through the box. Chan sighed to himself, peeking over at you. How you got so excited over this stuff, he could never figure out. He did have to admit your pure joy over simple things was nice though. It never took much to get a smile on your face, and if there was a smile on your face, chances are everyone around you had a smile on their face.

That’s why he was able to work with you so long. Because while he never understood you that well, you were just a nice person to be around.

“Stop judging me and go help that customer.” You said, sticking your tongue out at Chan. You knew his teasing was never more than that, but you still got sensitive about people talking about your hobbies.

“Yes mam.” He said, pushing himself off the counter and approaching the couple, who were looking at a bookshelf. You kept digging through the box, smiling as you pulled out items. Your heart swelled when you found a locket, old pictures on the inside. You wondered what happened to the pair in the locket, wishing you had a way to find out. But, like most items in this shop, you would never seen the original owners again.

The front door dinged again, causing you to look up. A man had entered, looking around the shop with wide eyes. You looked over at Chan, who was still busy with the couple, and then greeted the man.

“Hello!” You called out, waving a hand. His eyes fell on you, and he gave a small wave. “Welcome! What weird thing are you looking for today?” You asked, grinning at him. He continued to look around the shop as he approached your counter, you leaning on the box.

“Uhm, this may be an odd question…” He said, and you nodded your head, waiting patiently. “Do you… Do you have any… netting?”

“Netting?” You pondered, raising an eyebrow. “What kind of netting?”

“Fishing netting. Long story short, my nets got torn by some dogs this morning and I need to get some new ones. I’ve looked around, and it’s all out of my price range, so someone suggested I come here.” You thought about it for a second, looking to the side of the store.

“Follow me.” You smiled, waving a hand.

*Fairy Tale*

“So, where are you from then?” Seokmin asked, leading you around the village. You thought about how to answer that. You couldn’t quite tell him exactly where you were from, but you could be close? You scribbled on the paper and showed him, eyes quickly reading.

“Across the sea…” Seokmin muttered, looking out to the sea. “Oh wow, there’s not a kingdom across the sea forever.” He said, you starting to panic. Maybe that was the wrong answer… “You must have traveled really far.” You grinned, nodding your head.

“Hey, Seokmin!” You both turned your heads, spotting a man walking towards you, hand in hand with a woman.

“Joshua! What brings you here?” Seokmin smiled, hugging the man, who you assumed was called Joshua.

“We’re wedding planning, and for some reason all the flowers in your kingdom are much nicer than anywhere else. I imagine it’s the sea water?” Joshua smiled, lighting nudging the girl next to him. Her eyes landed on you, a soft smile on her face.

“Who’s this?” She asked, looking back to Seokmin, the slightest of eyebrows raised.

“This is Y/N. She was shipwrecked on our beach the other day.” Seokmin explained. “This is a prince from a neighboring kingdom, and his fiance.” You nodded, waving at the couple.

“Well it’s nice to meet you.” Joshua said, smiling at you. “You couldn’t be in better hands.”

“Hey! I have an idea!” His fiance said, all three of you looking at her. “Why don’t we get lunch? Everyone’s so busy lately! It would be lovely to just sit and chat for a while.”

“If Seokmin’s up for it, I’m up for it!” Joshua smiled, looking at Seokmin.

“I mean, if Y/N would like to?” Seokmin looked to you. You just simply nodded your head, slightly hungry anyway. “Excellent.” He smiled, you grinning back. “There’s a really great place just near here. They have the best seafood.”

Your eyes immediately widened. Seafood? Like… Fish?

“Oh… Do you not like seafood?” Seokmin asked, catching the panicked look on your face. You quickly shook your head. You couldn’t even begin to imagine just seeing a fish cooked to be eaten, let alone eating one yourself. “Oh, well that’s fine. They have other options as well.”

You were a little hesitant, but slowly nodded your head. You could get through one lunch. You just wouldn’t look at their plates.

*Today*

You huffed as you carried the nets towards the bait shop. You didn’t realize how heavy these would end up being as you walked from your car. You figured it was three nets, how bad could it get? They weren’t that heavy when you got them into your car?

You struggled to get them into the building, Seokmin picking his head up at the sound.

“Woah, what are you doing?” He said, quickly coming to take two of the nets from you.

“Trying to bring your net options here?” You breathed, arms sore from the nets.

“You could have brought them one at a time.” He laughed, setting them on the counter. He then took the last net from your hands, finally being able to let your arms drop.

“I thought it would be easier to make one trip.” You said, shaking your arms out.

“Clearly.” He said, but he still grinned at you all the same. “Thank you so much for bringing them.”

“It’s not a problem. Hopefully one of them will work for you.” You smiled, looking around the shop.

“I’m just going to go test them with my hooks. You can stay here if you want?” You nodded your head, leaning on the counter. He smiled before heading back outside, leaving you in silence. Well, almost silence.

You swore you heard faint barking coming from somewhere? You looked around the shop, not seeing any dogs. But there was definitely barking? It almost sounded like…

“I found one that should work!” Seokmin smiled, coming back into the shop.

“Oh perfect!” You smiled, pushing yourself away from the counter.

“I hope you don’t mind, I already put the other two back in your car. It was unlocked, so I just put them in the back seat?”

“Oh, thank you.” You smiled, turning as you heard that barking again.

“So how much do I-”

“Do you have a dog, by any chance?” You turned back to him, Seokmin raising an eyebrow.

“Uhm… No?” He said, confused by your sudden question.

“I’m sorry I just… I’ve been hearing barking.” You said, Seokmin tilting his head.

“I don’t know where that would…” He started, stopping. There was barking. “What the hell?” He said, looking at the back of the shop. He started to walk back there, you following. As you went in back, you didn’t see a dog.

“Where is that coming from?” You asked, stopping as you walked past a door. “It’s… It’s coming from this door?” You said, Seokmin raising an eyebrow.

“That’s not possible. There’s just old equipment in there, I don’t remember the last time I even opened it.”

“But the barking’s definitely coming from in there?” You said, looking at the door. Seokmin opened a drawer, digging in it for a minute. He eventually pulled out some keys, walking to the door.

“See, there’s nothing in here-” He said, opening the door, stopping as a small dalmatian puppy ran out. You both stared at the dog wide eyed, not noticing the second one emerging.

“How… What… When… Wh… What?” Seokmin said, staring at the dogs, beyond confused. “How did you two even get in there?” He asked, bending down to get at a closer level with the dogs.

*Fairy Tale*

“Are… Are you alright?” Seokmin asked, speaking for the first time in several minutes.

The sea witch had betrayed you. She used your voice and turned herself into a human to prevent you from what you had to do. With the help of Minghao, you managed to convince the prince that she was lying, but that only led to chaos and a large battle. It was... terrifying to say the least. But in the end, the sea witch was defeated.

Now you both sat along the shore, trying to process what had just happened. Minghao had gone back up to the castle to give you two some peace.

“I think so.” You said, still mildly shocked that a voice had come out of you. Seokmin still wasn’t used to it either.

“So… You’re… You’re kind of a… You’re…”

“A mermaid?” You offered, Seokmin nodding. “Yeah, kind of.”

“Uh… How?” He asked, clearly confused.

“I… Met you one day. After a shipwreck. Normally we aren’t supposed to interfere with human situations, but for some reason I couldn’t let you drown like that…”

“So that was you.” He said, and you looked over at him. “You were the one that saved me that day.” You nodded your head again.

“I got in… Very big trouble. Merpeople are… forbidden from interacting with humans. At least, in my kingdom we are. My mother was killed by a human, and since then we’ve been warned about how dangerous humans are.” You sighed, looking back out to the water. “I don’t know, something told me to stop you from drowning.”

“Thank you.” Seokmin looked at you, sincerity in his eyes. “So, if you’re a mermaid, how do you have legs?”

“I made a deal with the sea witch. I shouldn’t have, but I just… Wanted to see what this world was like. She… Well, she traded my voice for a pair of legs so I could walk up here, and she… she told me that I had 3 days to make you fall in love with me or else I would become another part of her collection of trinkets.” You admitted, suddenly realizing how crazy that probably sounded.

“It sounds like she set you up for failure.” He said, you sighing. “Not in like a… I just mean… Well, no one can fall in love with someone in 3 days. Even my friends who had quick introductions to their loves had to take a while before they were 100% certain.”

“I think you’re right.” You muttered, digging your feet into the sand. You knew your father was humoring you by letting you keep the legs a little longer, probably so you could say goodbye. He was bound to turn up at any point to bring you back into the sea. “I probably looked so stupid…”

“I’d say hopeful.” He said, picking up a seashell. He dusted some sand off of it, looking closer at it. “Huh, someone scratched something into this shell?” Your head perked up.

“What?” You took the shell as he handed it to you, looking closer at it.

‘Is this really what you want?’

You looked out to the sea, nodding your head. Another wave came in, just touching your feet. As it receded, a large shell sat just in front of your feet. You reached forward and picked it up, quickly reading it.

‘Very well. As long as you are happy, I will be happy. Just promise to come and visit sometimes, you will always be welcome back home.’

You looked up at the sea, smiling and mouthing thank you.

“So what did it say?” Seokmin asked, bringing your attention back.

“Just that… My father’s letting me make my own choices.” You sighed, holding the shell close to your heart.

“Oh really?” He said, waving a bit to the sea. “Hi there! I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble!” He called out, you shaking your head. As quickly as you could blink, another wave came up, completely soaking Seokmin.

“I think he likes you.” You laughed, Seokmin letting out a laugh too.

*Today*

“Wait, these really aren’t your dogs?” You asked, bending down to scratch one of the dogs ears.

“I’ve never seen them before. I just… How did they get in there? I’m the only one here and I seriously haven’t opened that door in… I don’t even know how long.” He walked into the room, looking around. Nothing was broken and there were no windows were open, but he did feel a warm breeze blow through. He scratched his head, confused.

You sat and pet the puppies, cooing to them. You felt a warm breeze blow past you, looking back into the shop. Someone must have come in and let the wind in.

“Hey Seokmin, I think you have a cus…” You managed to get out, before collapsing onto the ground.

You were lightly being shaken awake, senses slowly coming back to you.

“Y/N?” You heard, starting to open your eyes. “Y/N, wake up!” Your eyes officially opened, seeing Seokmin looking down at you, a puppy sitting on your chest.

“Seokmin… What… What happened?” You said, starting to sit up, getting a hold on the puppy. “Is this one of Minghao’s?”

“I think so?” He looked around the shop, trying to put the pieces together.

“What are you doing here, little guy?” You asked, hugging the puppy as the other one crawled onto your legs.

“Hello?” You both heard, turning to the door.

“We’re back here!” Seokmin called, you looking up at him.

“What if it’s someone dangerous?” You asked, and he seemed to have that same thought as you said it. You jumped as a larger dog came running back, immediately sniffing the puppies.

“Perdita!” You smiled, petting the dog. “Wait… Does that mean…?” As if on cue, Minghao and his wife walked into the room, another dog following them.

“You guys are here too?” Minghao asked, looking between you and Seokmin.

“I guess so. Where is here?” Seokmin asked, officially helping you up.

“We don’t know. It’s a strange land… Definitely not back home.” His wife said, coming forward to hug you. She was one of your first friends after officially leaving the sea, so it comforted you to have her here.

“If we’re all here, does that mean other people are here too?” Seokmin asked, looking back to Minghao.

“I think so. I have this vague memory of seeing Prince Joshua but I don’t know where or how…” Minghao said, Seokmin nodding.

“Might as well try and find out.” He said, nodding towards the door.

“I agree. Let’s go.” You said, walking out of the room arm in arm with Minghao’s wife.

“Those two are always going to take charge, huh?” Minghao said, smiling after the two of you, followed by the dogs.

“Only when it comes to us, I guess.” Seokmin laughed, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

#seventeen au #seventeen fic #seventeen fluff #seventeen series #seventeen x reader #seventeen oneshot #lee seokmin #dokyeom #seokmin au #dokyeom au #dokyeom fic #seokmin fic #seokmin fluff #dokyeom fluff #seokmin x reader #dokyeom x reader #seokmin oneshot #dokyeom oneshot #fairy tale au

59 notes · View notes

seoulscenarios · 6 years ago

Text

Mark Lee: Homecoming

Genre: superhero au

Member(s): NCT’s Mark Lee

Word count: 1.5k

Summary: just mark lee as your friendly neighbourhood spiderman

Authors note: very much inspired by Tom Holland’s Spiderman whomst i LOVE and ADORE and very much self indulgent

-So, you all know the drill, bitten by a radioactive spider, get superpowers and suddenly you’re saving Queens from weirdos and saving cats for old ladies

-That was Mark Lee’s life, except well, he’s a high school senior with a secret identity

-The fact that he moonlights as a superhero makes him jittery at school when he can hear the kids talking about his latest romps as “spiderman”

-Part of him is really proud of what he’s achieved ever since that damn spider bit his hand about a year ago but also,,, if his older brother Johnny ever found out that he routinely threw himself off buildings (sometimes even for fun) well,,,, Mark doesn’t want to think about it

-So yeah, his makeshift hero getup was shoved under a loose floorboard of his bedroom floor that he swears to Johnny that it’s fine and they don’t need to get a repairman in to fix it

-Sure,, his outfit wasn’t much, just a hoodie with a spider motif sprayed over it and some lycra pants and shorts worn over it but it was practical and comfy and also very easily replaceable bc he could fish old things out of the junk or at charity shops

-But after meeting Mr Stark, he got a super cool and exciting new SpiderSuit and it makes him feel very much like an official Avenger even if Mr Stark says he’s not

-Hiding his bruises and scratches from Johnny was extremely hard, especially when he had to come up with more and more outlandish excuses and he just smiles awkwardly as his brother got the first aid kit to wash out the grit from that ghastly cut on his arm

-Honestly, it was such a hard thing to keep a secret from his brother

-He was extremely close to Johnny, who took care of him and is now his legal guardian after their parents moved away and never got in touch with them again, so keeping such an important secret was the WORST thing for Mark

-He wanted to be so truthful to his brother who had sacrificed his whole life and career to look after Mark but he also enjoyed this other, somewhat glamorous life that he really enjoyed keeping a secret, it was something he didn’t have to share it with Johnny

-And as much as he loved Johnny, he was incredibly overbearing and involved in as many aspects of Mark’s life as he could

-So, he just shut up and let Johnny rant about his day at work or let him fuss over him because that was way easier than trying to convince Johnny that it’s okay for him to be swinging around Queens or fighting Captain America and Black Widow in Germany (Johnny thought he was on a trip to Switzerland with Tony Stark to attend some kind of conference)

-But outside of his “superhero” world, Mark was the most uncool and nerdy kid you could imagine

-He loves physics and maths so much, studying in all of his spare time and making computer programmes and coding in his lunch break instead of going to the school cafeteria

-Thought, if he was being honest, if he actually went to the cafeteria someone would probably trip him up or knock the tray of food out of his hands “accidentally”

-(Not to mention, Johnny would pack him lunch to take with him that he normally he’d munch away at in his classroom, even if it wasn’t the best sandwiches he’d ever eaten)

-He had his enemies, picking on the nerdy, quiet, skinny boy seemed the best thing for the school bullies especially Flash but he was just kind of used to it now,,, besides if Flash ever found out if he was the Spiderman,,,, well,,, he’ll just keep it a secret for now

-But the thing he liked most about school

-You, his best friend ever since you bumped into him, knocking both of your trays out of your hands because you were too busy trying to balance your comic and food tray as you were navigating the cafeteria and you immediately apologised but Mark apologised even more until he saw your comic and got very excited that you read the same comics and since then you had been best friends

-You bonded over comics but you definitely didn’t know that your best friend was the Spiderman whom you ADORED and in actual fact you were a huge fan of the Avengers and absolutely gushed about them to Mark all the time

-Unbeknownst to you, Mark had only just returned from the airport where he made his “debut” in the Avengers thanks to Tony and did in fact kinda know them maybe he wasn’t sure on their actual relationship but he did like Mr Rogers even if he did have to fight him Mark has MAD respect for Mr Rogers

-He just let you gush about your love for the heroes, knowing that you admired him in not just his spidey persona but him in real life too

-It just meant that keeping it a secret from you even worse than from Johnny

-Like the amount of times he nearly accidentally revealed himself to be your favourite superhero was actually so unreal he’s more shocked that you haven’t actually figured it out yet

-But, of course, this is Mark Lee

-The nerdy, bashful, shy superhero with a blabber mouth and easily forgets the details of his normal life when he’s out superhero-ing

-So when he goes out one night, kicking some leftover cronies of the Vulture that still roamed the streets of Queens he swings in to his open bedroom building with a few cuts littering his face

-As he swings in, he rips off his mask and shrugged off his hoodie before trying to open the loose floorboard

-Trying is the keyword here

-Because lo and behold, you were actually stood on the floorboard holding your joint Lego project you’d been working on for weeks (a work in progress Millenium Falcon), mouth wide open as you realise that your best friend is actually the Spiderman

-“Uh… Y/N ? Please don’t drop the Millenium Falcon but uh, hi… I guess you figure it out… I’m Spiderman ?”

-“I hadn’t noticed thanks, wanna prove it?”

-“Um… shouldn’t you be more worried that I revealed my secret identity to you by complete accident?”

-“Shoot a web”

-And he does,,, much to your surprise as he bound your hands to the Lego, accidentally using a bit too much force and breaking some of the pieces off

-But to Mark’s surprise, you’re really not that shocked that he’s crusading as The Spiderman you had been admiring for ages and it really calms his anxiety about this whole situation because if there’s one thing Mr Stark taught him was to keep his identity a secret but knowing that you’re not that bothered and seem more interested in the biology and chemicals that the spider who bit him in the first place and the fact you wanted to meet Thor and Captain America

-With you knowing meant that Mark was way more relaxed and joking around about his nightlife, making everyone around you think that Mark had a badly behaved pet

-And sure, sometimes he rocked up to yours with serious cuts all over his arms and chest and he was so sure that you were going to turn him away and the fact that you kept a spare set of clothes and a first aid kit and cleaned up and made him sleep at yours that night, you soothing him as nightmares took over him

-He would always apologise in the morning and it made your heart break

-“Mark, you’re never a burden to me, if anything… I’m grateful you trust me so much so don’t ever, ever try to hide anything from me… I’m here for you both as Spiderman, but more importantly for you, Mark Lee, a kid from Queens”

-“Thanks Y/N”

-“So when are you introducing me to Thor, it’s been a while and it’s taking a toll on me to keep your secret…”

-“Y/N for the last time I haven’t even MET Thor, so how can I introduce you to him?”

-“FINE, then maybe your precious Mr Stark”

-“That’s more plausible now can we watch The Goonies finally?”

coming up soon will be a bang chan scenario which has been a WIP for ages as i just haven’t had the time to fully invest in it yet :(((

hope you’re all happy and healthy and hydrated! the air quality in korea is super bad at the moment so im trying my best to stay as healthy as i can

love, admin leigh

#nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct imagine #nct mark #nct mark lee #mark lee #nct mark scenarios #nct mark imagines #nct mark imagine #nct u mark #nct 127 mark #mark lee scenarios #mark lee imagines #mark lee imagine #mark lee as your neighbourhood friendly spiderman #youre welcome #i didnt know i needed this until i spoke to gemma about it

157 notes · View notes

skizmin · 6 years ago

Text

the lantern room | l. minho ☼

⇝ Australia!Au: jeongin, seungmin, felix, jisung, hyunjin, changbin, minho, chan, woojin ⇝ Pairing: Lee Minho / Gender neutral reader

⇝ Genre: fluff, a little angsty tbh but its not bad at all. strangers to friends to lovers, lighthouse keeper and local penguin enthusiast minho!!

⇝ Words: 15, 416 (i know its adschjk)

⇝ Summary: Minho Lee was the local mystery boy. You didn’t know him, but you knew he looked after the lighthouse and fed the local penguins. That was until the storm.

⇝ A/N: vanta the cat based off of nathan the cat!! is my bias showing??? this is so much longer than my other ones im so sorry it’s just minhos so easy to write for n this idea i just kept unknowingly building on meaning it all takes ages to resolve ahbdbsjhgfd. very very special thanks to @briee-elle who beta read it for me and edited it and just saved my life basically!! ily bub

⇝ Music: here is the playlist i listened to whilst writing!!

No one really knows the boy that mans the lighthouse on your bay. They say his mother is sick, his father is someone out of the picture, they say he’s an only child with only an odd cat for company.

You went to school with him, he wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. He was nice, relatively smart and good at swimming from what others told you. What people found strange was the way he’d disappear at break times, and the way he’d reject any invitations to parties or simple hang-outs, also how he never seemed to attend any school excursions or camps. You hadn’t really spoken to him, Minho Lee that is. The opportunity simply never came up. But that didn’t mean you weren’t completely obsessed with him and his mysterious aura.

You felt immature, if you were being honest, at how enamoured you were with this boy who had never even glanced in your direction. No one knew, of course, how you would think of him often and wonder what he was up to, you were too embarrassed to confess to your friends about how the dark haired boy had swallowed your mind. Maybe you had been reading too many cheesy romance novels? You were always the one to reject any romantic aspect of the stereotypical mystery boy in the books, but it seemed different with Minho Lee.

You wondered where he went every lunch time, what he did when he was alone on those Friday nights you were attending a party, what he did on the nights where the ocean’s harsh wind thrashed against the windows of every house in the town, lulling you to sleep. Minho’s home was right next to the lighthouse (and, technically, neighbouring yours), probably getting hit with the relentless wind and sea sprays the hardest. As a child you used to think Minho lived in the lighthouse due to watching constant replays of Round The Twist on your Saturday mornings, and you wondered if he would be amused by that.

People rarely saw him outside of school. Sometimes people gossiping about the odd amounts of frozen squid he bought at the convenience store on a Sunday afternoon. You saw him quite frequently though, not that he knew, of course.

Your and Minho’s houses shared the same tiny cove on the cliff line your town edged on, alongside a few elderly couples that were enjoying their retirement. Often as the sun set you’d find yourself wandering down the poorly built stairs to the small beach past the steep cliff your house stood near. On these days where you watched the oranges and deep pinks roll over the horizon, you’d also watch Minho on the beach with copious amounts of squid in a large tin bucket, chucking them to the penguins that made their way from the ocean to their burrows hidden by the sand mountains that rose higher the closer you got to the cliff.

You thought it was ludicrous. Minho, the boy who no one knew barely anything about, spent his evenings building unlikely relationships with the penguins of your town by feeding them squid. What was more confusing was his black cat who followed him all along the beach, even wandering off to play in the water. A cat playing in the ocean? Minho had a more interesting life than you ever would.

Sometimes in the summer when the sun would set quicker than normal, you watched from your hiding place behind some sandbanks above sea level (acquirable by jumping over the railing of the wooden stairs down to the beach) as Minho darted up the stairs, leaving his cat and the penguins on the beach with the squid dumped out into a massive pile. He always returned within ten minutes, panting lightly as he jogged down the stairs, you smiled at these times, realising he’d forgotten to turn the lighthouse light on before he’d ventured down to the picturesque beach. You could hear, when he returned, his scowling reprimands to his cat who had gluttonously eaten most of the squid instead of leaving it to the small penguins that waddled further up the beach after realising there was no extra food left.

You thought, if anyone ever asked you why you liked Minho (not that they’d know enough to ask), you’d simply say you loved the way his accomplished smile would lazily spread its way over his face once he returned up the stairs a final time to head home, a hand grasping the handle of his tin bucket tightly and oddly thalassic cat leaping up two stairs at a time alongside him. You thanked whatever lords you could that he never saw you, you’d rather dive into a pool of slimy seaweed and swim in it for 4 hours than have Minho Lee think you were some kind of creep (even if you most definitely were one).

☇

It was a Wednesday night, a storm had hit and the rain pelted against the tin of your roof. You listened in a state of equanimity, shutting your eyes that were watching in a trance as the light beamed from the lighthouse every 7 seconds.

You heard the low hum of light thunder off in the distance of the ocean, smiling lightly. You’d always loved listening to storms, finding it fascinating that something so frantic and chaotic could be so calming to your senses. You very nearly fell asleep, leaning on the windowsill of your living room which was lit only by a warm lamp in the far corner, your parents on the couch reading their own novels due to the TV reception cutting off during the harshness of the storm. You would’ve fallen asleep, in fact, if a sudden banging hadn’t sounded from your front door.

At first, you and your parents thought it to be the storm, maybe a tree banging against one of your walls, that was until you heard the faint yelling that was very almost washed away by the howls of the wind. Your mother instantly sprung to her feet, padding her way quickly to the door. You and your father followed with haste, wondering what could be going on, scared of the things that could happen on this horrid night.

There were definitely calls for help as you reached your front door, the banging persistent. Your mother unlocked the door and tugged it open, your breath caught in your throat as you saw what was there.

Minho Lee stood in your doorway, one arm holding his panic-stricken cat and the other moving from its poise it held from banging on the door to wrap around the arm of a woman who stared vacantly through the house despite her furrowed brows. Minho’s hair was drenched, worry tracing all over his features as he stuttered to explain himself.

“Oh my god!” Your mother stated, immediately reaching out to the woman on Minho’s side to lead them into the house. Minho’s cat broke free of the boy’s hold, scampering into the living room towards the heater that was in there. “What happened?”

“I’m terribly sorry Y/M/N, we really don’t mean to intrude!” Your brows furrowed at the way Minho’s supposedly mother wasn’t looking towards your mum as she spoke to her. “The roof in our living room collapsed, Minho insisted on getting out. He’s worried sick about the roof in other rooms collapsing and—”

“Oh Mrs Lee! That’s awfully unsafe, of course you can’t stay there!” Your mother exclaimed, placing a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Honey, would you go get some towels? And some of Markus’ old clothes?”

Markus was your cousin, his family lived in the Netherlands although he lived with you for two years whilst studying a marine biology course at small university nearby. His room was still set up the way he’d left it, aside from a few valued possessions he took back home with him once his course had finished.

Your father set off through the house, not saying a word as he was too shocked by the sudden situation.

“Y/N, sweetie, boil the kettle would you please?” Your mother asked you, turning to smile at you reassuringly.

“Yeah. Yeah, of course. Tea or coffee, Mrs Lee?” You asked the woman, who smiled, still not looking towards you.

“Coffee with milk would be perfect, Y/N.” You nodded and your eyes subconsciously flitted to Minho.

You were taken aback once you realised he was staring at you, wet hair dripping onto the floor and nose red from the cold. His eyes looked curious, confused, maybe even skeptical, you weren’t sure. Intimidated by his gaze, you quickly turned on your heel and made a beeline into the kitchen.

Filling the kettle, then flicking it on, you processed the situation as you waited. Minho Lee and his mother were in your house, it was currently 11:14 PM and his cat was wandering around your living room. A storm had somehow damaged their home and Minho was too worried to stay there for the night. Okay, you thought, this was only slightly weird.

“I uh—,” a voice sounded it’s way from the entrance to the kitchen, you whipped your head around to see a sheepish looking Minho, towel laid over his shoulders. “I didn’t know you lived here.”

What was this? Minho in your home, muddy shoes dirtying your kitchen tiles, Minho talking to you like he’d known you forever. Your eyes went a little wide and your ears pricked as the kettle flicked off, sounds of bubbling coming from it and steam filling the air. You whipped your head back around, fingers curling into fists as you tried to figure out what to say.

“Uh. Yeah, I don’t know why you would.” You replied, occupying your hands by pulling cups from the cupboard above your head.

“I’ve been at school with you for as long as I can remember, I think I should at least notice if you’re my neighbour.” His voice sounded closer, you didn’t dare turn around. Your cheeks felt redder at the thought of Minho actually knowing who you are, it somehow made your slight obsession with him way more embarrassing.

“Here, let me make my mum’s one. She’s a picky woman.” Minho mused, speaking through your silence that you didn’t know you’d allowed.

He was next to you already, grabbing one of the mugs from the bench and brewing a coffee with odd steps. He poured the milk first, before the water, and when you nervously trailed your eyes up to his face, you noticed his lips mouthing numbers as he counted how many times he stirred the coffee. His eyes flitted to you and you looked away, continuing to make your dad’s usual order of black tea.

“My name’s Minho, by the way.” He murmured, seemingly growing less and less confident as you didn’t reply.

“I know.” It tumbled from your lips before you could stop it, and your back straightened in fear. Fear of what? You weren’t too sure, maybe of Minho discovering how often he plagued your thoughts even when you weren’t at school with him.

“Really? I don’t think I’ve properly met you though.” He said back, and although you couldn’t see, you felt him turn to face you just the slightest bit more.

“I’ve been at school with you for as long as I can remember, I think I should at least know your name.” You replied, reiterating his words from earlier before picking up both mugs and turning to the boy. “Shall we?”

He simply smiled and followed you out of the kitchen into the lounge room where your parents and Minho’s mother sat. You noticed Minho’s cat had curled up on the windowsill that you had occupied before Minho arrived, you smiled, making a mental note to pet the cat later on.

“Y/N! Minho and his mum will be staying with us for a little while, just until they can figure everything out.” Your father said from his place closest to the heater, smiling graciously as he took his mug from your hand.

“Sounds good!” You said, politely smiling at Minho’s mother who didn’t return it to you. You watched as Minho gripped his mother’s hand and dragged it towards the coffee he made for her, only letting go of the mug once he was sure her hand was wrapped around it tightly.

“Perfect. Y/N, could you take Minho to Markus’ old room? There’s some clothes on the armchair. And Minho, feel free to shower before you go to sleep if need be.” You mum said, smiling warmly at you as you nodded, awkwardly grabbing the clothes from the chair and passing them to the boy.

You lead Minho once more, out of the room and down the hall. Markus’ room was next to yours, the wood of his door frame still littered with pencil and texta drawn lines of your growing height since you were small.

“Uh, here you go. The bathroom’s right there too if you uh, need it.” You said, leaning into the empty bedroom to flick on the light switch.

“She’s blind, by the way.” Minho said, looking at you unsurely. “My mum. You uh-, you looked a little confused back there.”

“Oh.” You replied, letting the statement sink in. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

Minho just smiled softly and shook his head, “That’s alright. I’ll see you in the morning?”

You nodded dumbly and stepped back as he made his way into his room, you opting to quickly brush your teeth before going to bed.

It was strange, talking to Minho Lee was strange. His voice sounded nice when he was tired, quieter than what you heard at school and just the slightest bit lower. You wondered what would happen tomorrow, if maybe you’d walk to school together or maybe you’d walk home together, too.

Maybe Minho Lee wouldn’t be the one you admired from afar anymore, maybe the thumping in your heart would remain constant as he would stick around, talking with you more often than you’d had thought possible.

☇

That morning, your family walked Minho and his mother to their home, checking the ruin from the storm and allowing Minho to collect his uniform and things for school providing nothing had happened to his room. The cat, Vanta as you had learnt his name to be, followed along behind you, ignoring the hole in the roof and travelling straight to the metal bowl near the laundry and meowing loudly. Minho sighed and fed the obnoxious cat before he got a headache from its ear piercing screeches.

You smiled at the cat, standing awkwardly in the living room as your parents assessed the damage.

“Can you see any photo albums anywhere? I think they were on the bookshelf.” Minho’s mother said, standing approximately five metres from where you were, nibbling on her bottom lip as your mother recited what was damaged.

Your dad instantly took towards the bookshelf that at fallen over once the weight of the collapsed roof hit it (“A tree feel on it,” your dad said after wandering outside for a couple of minutes. “It was completely uprooted during the storm. The baby red gum.”).

“We don’t need the photo albums mum,” you turned your head to see Minho walking down the stairs, school bag tossed over his shoulder and uniform thrown on messily. “It’s not like they’re important.”

“They’re beyond important Minho!” His mother insisted, emphasising her point with pointed movements of her hands. “Just because I can’t see them doesn’t mean I don’t know they’re embarrassing, you can’t escape them even if you tried.”

“Found them!” Your father called over Minho’s groan. You immediately rushed to your father’s side, gathering an odd five books in your arms and moving to place them into a box that centred the room.

“I’ll get my stuff after school.” The boy that clouded your thoughts was beside you, you found it annoying how suddenly he always appeared next to you. “Wanna go?”

You nodded, red crawling up your cheeks as you weren’t prepared to have him speaking to you so openly. You hugged your parents, telling them you’d come straight home after school, before taking off to follow Minho out of his dishevelled home.

“I just need to—, uh, you know?” He gestured vaguely to the lighthouse that towered over his home, and you smiled brightly.

“Can I come?” You questioned, wanting to see what it was like to scale the stairs of the lighthouse, to see what happened when Minho turned the beam of it off.

Minho tilted his head lightly, “You want to come?”

“Of course! I used to always wonder what it looked like inside.” You felt your nerves subside around the boy slightly, senses overwhelmed at the pure want to venture into the tall tower of white, to see what exactly went on inside.

Minho smiled at you, slightly lopsided and told you to take off your bag at the entrance, leading you towards the small, hut like entrance of the lighthouse. You did as you were told once you reached the destination, listening as he fumbled with the key in the lock and feeling the soft spray of just barely rain on your face, wind blowing hair into your face making you sigh and run your fingers through it.

A loud creak sounded from where Minho stood and you looked in slight awe as he pushed the large metal door open to reveal nothing but a minuscule hallway leading to the beginnings of a staircase.

“Whoa.” Is all you could say, following Minho inside as he reflexively began to scale the stairs.

Half way up you realised Minho must be magnificently fit to do this twice everyday without a break. Despite the fact you made your way up and down the stairs to the beach almost everyday, and walked to and from school everyday, your thighs were burning. What kind of muscle did Minho possess in his thighs to be able to do this so effortlessly all the time?

The stairs where flooding with light, provided by the occasional window that followed the spiralling steps. Scaffolding littered around the bends which you easily ducked underneath if it came to it, the metal stairs creaking quietly at random times during the climb. The gaps between each step showed just how high you were climbing, something that you could also notice as you saw a wider and clearer view of the ocean outside the windows than you’d ever had, the dark grey of the water crashing onto limestone cliffs into the distance with a spray of white, image slightly distorted through the specks of rain that covered the glass.

“You tired already?” Minho glanced over his shoulder to you, whose footsteps had become heavier and louder though you were only halfway up.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you huffed a riposte, embarrassed at the way he was seemingly unbothered but also knowing how to take a joke when it was made.

“Sure you don’t,” Minho slowed down on the stairs as they reached an end. “It doesn’t matter anyway, we’re almost there.” You sighed out of happiness as you hit the end of the climb, your feet subconsciously moving to take another step up causing you to stumble a bit.

Eyes searching around the landing, you didn’t see what you had initially expected from imagining the insides of a lighthouse. You were gazing out the larger window of the landing when your eyes flitted to Minho, who was pressing against a ladder to check it’s stability. Gaze wandering up, you saw light flooding in from the opening in the roof the wide-runged ladder was heading up into.

“You go first, that way if you fall it won’t be too catastrophic.” Minho turned to you, eyes meeting your wondrous ones. You couldn’t feel it but Minho’s heart skipped a beat at your awestruck glare. He’d never brought someone up into the lantern room before, no one except his mother on rare occasions.

“Luckily for you, Minho Lee, I know how to climb a ladder.” You retorted, feet already moving forward until you could reach out and grip the ladder with your hands.

“All good, then.”

Minho’s tone surprised you. His volume was low, sentence coming out in something that could only be described as a breathy whisper. He sounded roughly unfocused. You couldn’t bring yourself to turn and look at him, instead choosing to step up rung by rung into the light spilling from above.

Minho’s arms moved to hold the ladder in support once your body was far enough up, not wanting to make you uncomfortable with any unneeded close proximity. Once you crawled over the top of the opening and disappeared, Minho began climbing (taking a relatively shorter amount of time than it had taken you).

His head popped through the hole and his dark eyes immediately searched for your figure around the brightness of the room. Once he found you, his body still rising through the hatch, he smiled.

Normally, he would move straight to gaze out into the ocean, watching the waves crash against the cliffside and feeling it steady his heart beat.

You, however, had immediately gravitated towards the contraption in the centre that held the small bulb for the beaming light. Your eyes searching for an explanation as to how exactly it worked, how the light became so bright for the boats and ship-men to see.

“What d’ya think?” Minho said once he was on his feet, moving towards the contraption as well, though standing a safe distance behind you.

“It’s…” You paused, not really knowing how to describe it. You tilted your head and brought your fingers to brush the rust of the metal bars encasing the millions of layers of lenses that surrounded the tiny bulb. “It’s different. Different from what I thought it would be, at least.”

Minho laughed lightly, passing to the other side of the circular room to flick off the switch to the light.

“And what exactly did you think it would be?” He asked, moving to stand beside you as your eyes remained fixated on the light bulb.

“Oh, the usual. Haunted and full of curses like in ‘Round the Twist’.” You stepped back, turning to face Minho once you deemed there to be enough space between the two of you.

Minho laughed at this, eyes almost closing as his cheeks rose with his smile. “Of course! Bronson is my cousin, I’ll have you know.”

You laughed too. Somewhere in your heart, you felt at ease, knowing an internal question was answered and that Minho was amused by that, amused by you.

☇

“We’re doing a Maccas run if you wanna come along,” your friend beside you finally picked up their duffel bag which they brought today to prepare for a soccer game. “I’m hungry as fuck.”

“Nah man, I gotta get home.” You grumbled, kicking a stone along the gravel of your schoolyard once you started walking.

“Shit, sorry!” Your friend whipped their head towards you. “Did I keep you? I shouldn’t have asked you to stay!”

You shook your head and smiled. “Nah, it’s all good. It wasn’t that long.”

“Yeah, but still. I could’ve seen Miss García on my own.” The grumbles beside you made you smile before you playfully bumped your hips into theirs.

“I said it’s all good man,” your friend laughed, happily reciprocating the action. “Now get a fucking move on! Jamie is probably waiting at your car already.”

“Okie dokie. See ya tomorrow, yeah?” They called out, stepping backwards towards the student car park. You just nodded at them and waved as you turned off your heel and walked in the opposite direction towards the front gates of the school.

The day was still gloomy, a pale overcast with occasional bouts of spitting, nothing too extreme though unlike the previous night. When you arrived, a few head teachers were forcing some poor year sevens to clean up the mess of sticks and branches that had strewn their way across the school yard, moving inches at a time when a harsh wind broke through. You’d almost forgotten about Minho once you agreed to walk your friend to the science staff-room to confront their teacher about an extension on their most recent assignment (“She’s being a twat about it.” They’d told you, “It’s like she’s never fucking heard of a sporting life! Like, hello? I’m kinda representing the school here!”)

That’s why you were washed with a sense of overwhelming guilt when you turned a corner only to see Minho Lee leaning on one of the brick pillars that made up the entrance.

“Minho?” You called out, watching as his head snapped up from his phone, hair falling perfectly over his forehead.

“Oh! Y/N!” He smiled lazily, it was like an infectious disease and you couldn’t help but smile back. “I was beginning to think you’d left without me.”

“I uh—,” you stopped in front of him, waiting for him to lean off of the wall and start walking with you. “I didn’t realise we were walking back together.”

Minho subconsciously tried to match his steps with yours; left, right. Left, right.

“Oh, yeah, I uh— We should’ve clarified that, huh?” If you’d looked up from the pavement, you might’ve seen the hint of red splaying it’s way across his cheeks.

You hummed, and he supplied words for the nearly uncomfortable silence. “I would’ve texted you, but I don’t have your number. So, yeah.”

You felt it coming, the smile that spread itself wide across your face, not even slowing at your attempts to stop it. “Is this your weird way of asking for my number?”

“Don’t you think I should have it?” Out of the corner of your eye you saw the dark haired boy’s hands shoving themselves into the pockets of his pants. “I mean, I’m walking you home after all.”

Spluttering and with red crawling up your neck, you retorted with a bite. “You mean; we’re walking back to my home, which is also now your temporary home.”

“Ah, you got the message too?” He questioned, feet now avoiding stepping on any cracks that could be found on the pathway.

The message he was referring too, which you did receive, was regarding the damage to Minho’s house.

The roofing for the half of the first level not covered by the second floor would need to be completely replaced, as well as the common roof/floor of the first and second level would need to have some checks done and possibly some reinforcements placed in it.

Your parents, being the overly kind people they were, had immediately offered Minho and Mrs. Lee a place to stay, simply not allowing the small family to spend the high expense of the only hotel in town and stating that renting was too much effort for only 3 months. Your palms had sweated once you received the news, thoughts of Minho living in the same house as you were just terrifying. He’d see you every morning you woke up, he’d see the times you ate your food like an absolute pig, he’d even see your odd Milo habits (which included not mixing in the Milo at all, something that was extremely absurd to your friends).

“Yeah.” You breathed out. “I did.”

Minho hummed this time, not really knowing how to respond. You noticed his awkward aura and elbowed him lightly in the side, why did I do that?

“Welcome, officially, to the Y/L/N household, buddy.” Minho smiled at you after you said this, and just for a moment you believed this situation was normal. You believed this situation was okay.

☇

“Mum, you’ve got to be kidding me.” You heard Minho hiss (a poor attempt in being quiet, you thought) from the living room as you tiptoed down the hall on a Saturday afternoon. “You can’t just start talking to her again like that!”

You paused, almost backtracking in your subconscious need to not interrupt the tension happening in the room down the hall.

“It’s one phone call, darling. It’s not like I’m forgiving her or anything,” you heard his mum say back, voice calm and with significantly less venom than the tone Minho held. “I think this is quite the opposite actually, she won’t be exactly happy to hear the news.”

“She’s going to think we’re relying on her—”

“Which we are—!”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make!” Minho exclaimed, voice rising before he immediately dropped his volume. “I don’t want to make her feel important, like we still need her.”

“We do need her, Minho.” His mother sighed. “We need her to live comfortably, and you should be grateful that she’s giving you a life I couldn’t.”

“Mum–” Minho winced, you could practically feel the tears welling up in his eyes from the hallway. “Mum, I’d rather be living on the streets with you than be living in a mansion paid by her.”

You heard the footsteps padding quickly from the loungeroom, you barely had any time to react before Minho was striding out into the narrow hallway of your single storey house. His body somewhat startled when it noticed your presence, not 6 feet down the way, and his eyes snapped to yours.

Your prediction was right, his eyes were glassy, he looked like he was about to burst out into tears. Why couldn’t it be one of your parents in the situation? Getting caught listening in on an obviously private conversation. Of course they had both been busy at work or running errands. He immediately stepped backwards in the opposite direction down the hallway than you, eyes widening before his body turned and sped it’s way down the hall and out of the house into the weather of yet another windy afternoon. Your feet instinctively moved to follow him, the exigency to apologise taking over your body.

“Y/N?” Your legs halted just as you passed the open doorway into the loungeroom. “Leave him, he doesn’t like people seeing him upset.”

You immediately backtracked, turning your head into heat pouring out of the loungeroom. “Mrs Lee, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” they lady said, smiling in your general direction after hearing your voice. “You did nothing, I’m sorry you had to see him act out like that.”

Your heart stilted lowly, you ached to go and find him and tell him you were sorry, that you were simply curious. You breathed in, stuttered, and smiled. Mrs Lee couldn’t see your smile, no, but she could hear it in your voice and feel it change the mood of the room.

“It’s all good, Mrs Lee. Should I make you a cuppa? We bought shortbreads yesterday, too.”

“Same as usual if you could, Y/N” She answered, before smiling brightly from her place on the couch. “And please, call me Minseo.”

☇

You had just finished setting the table, now leading a disoriented Mrs Lee—, or Minseo as she preferred you to call her by, to her seat as she was still quite unfamiliar with the layout of your home. Your mum chose to make a simple Tuscan dish, calling out to you from the kitchen.

“Do you mind going and finding Minho for dinner?” Your fingers clenched unknowingly around Minho’s mum’s arm, senses of doubt flooding your mind.

The lady you were leading must have noticed, because she leant closer to you to whisper by the side of your face. “Don’t worry love, he’ll have calmed down by now.”

“Where can I find him?” You asked, heartbeat steadying as you pulled out a chair and led Minseo’s hands to it so she could find her own way into the seat (as per her request, “I want to do everything I can do.”)

“He’s only ever in two places aside from home, the beach or the lighthouse. Hope you’re ready for a work out.” Minho’s mum cheekily joked, quickly placing a hand over yours in comfort.

“Thank you,” You murmured before turning your head and calling out into the general vicinity of the kitchen. “I’ll be back soon! Don’t wait up for us!”

You walked out of your front door shortly after that, only stopping to grab a coat, and you were greeted with the fresh smell of saltwater that floated along the chilly air. You decided not to go down to the beach first, figuring if it was this late (not late, 8:26PM actually) he’d be done with the penguins and the tide would scale too high for any lengthy walks along the sand. Your feet carried you towards the lighthouse, puffing in relief when you noticed the large metal door, that was painted in a peeling white, was left slightly ajar.

Hurriedly, you stepped inside, desperate to escape the harsh wind that broke through the fabric of your thick jacket. Peering through the hallway, fear struck inside your mind. It was dark, almost dungeon like even though the stairs definitely weren’t, and definitely didn’t, lead into any depths of the earth. You turned on your torch from your phone and began your climb, ignoring the chills that crawled down your spine at every light creak or howl of the wind outside. Your thighs began to ache, still slightly sore from the first time you’d climbed these stairs only mere days ago.

“Minho?” You called up the spiral case, hoping he’d hear and reassure you he was there. Alas, there was no response, so you kept scaling up.

Despite your best efforts with your torch, you stumbled nearing the solid landing of the tower after tripping on some scaffolding that lay there. You swore softly, regaining your balance and stepping out into the landing.

The ocean looked terrifying from this window, dark navy blue sky with only the moon to illuminate the way the waves violently crashed into the limestone of the cliffs. You turned your head away from the sight, suddenly only imagining how the tower might simply tilt and fall over into the unforgiving sea. The thought of being swallowed by the darkness of the water made your heart pound, but you were at least comforted by the way the light from the hatch up into the lantern room shone down onto the landing, lighting it significantly.

Wiping your palms wide and flat onto your jeans, you approached the ladder.

“Minho?” You tried again, but to no avail. You sighed, it wouldn’t hurt to check just to be sure.

Before you knew it, you were halfway up the ladder, head just shorter than half a foot away from peeking through the hole in the cast iron.

“Y/N?”

“Fuck!” You flew backwards, completely taken aback at the way Minho’s head suddenly appeared in the hatch. You didn’t even have time to register how cute he looked with his confused face, brows furrowed and lips slightly pouted.

Minho’s reaction was quick, quicker than he had appeared in the opening, even. His left hand immediately went out to grasp onto your elbow as his right arm hooked over the ladder to stabilise it.

“Shit! I’m so sorry,” he exclaimed, arm straining to help you back safely on the ladder. Your feet were still fastened to the rungs, but your upper body had leant back so suddenly that you very almost lost your balance, hands desperately reaching to grip the ladder which would have done no help. The ladder wasn’t completely fastened to the opening in the ceiling (floor? both?) meaning you would have simply brought the ladder down with you in your fall.

“Minho!” you almost shouted, heart pounding and pupils dilated in exhilaration. “You utter fuckwit!”

Minho’s eyes stared directly into yours for a few moments, examining them as he slowly dragged his arms away from you and the ladder. It was silent until he began laughing. Eyes crinkling and breath being sucked in through wheezes.

“Your fucking face!” He cried, leaning back from the hatch to allow you to climb through. “You should’ve seen it!”

“That could have been the last face you’d ever seen, Minho Lee,” You grumbled, climbing through the opening with ease. “If I died, I would’ve haunted you to immediate death.”

“You—, you were all ‘Fuck!’ and—” Minho did what he supposed was an impression of you. “—you just fucking fell! Who does that? You were on a ladder!”

“Maybe someone who was petrified of your ugly face!”

“Oh, come on Y/N. Be a little more original for my sake.”

“Oh, I’ll be original with threats if need be, Minho.” You said, eyes turning menacing and small smile creeping its way onto your face.

Minho raised an eyebrow, watching you as you stood up in front of him. “Hm? Is that so?”

“Y—yeah!” You were suddenly flustered by Minho’s mischievous gaze on you, his lips tilting into a shit-eating grin. “Watch it, or I’ll shove a skewer up your fucking urethra.”

It took a second for him to register what you had said, and what exactly it entailed. But when he realised, you laughed at the visible cringe that went through Minho’s body, “Too far! What the fuck?”

Soon he began laughing too, giggles falling from his lips at your response to his reaction. You felt his eyes on you whilst you were laughing, gallantry suddenly declining rapidly as you quickly composed yourself with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry,” You said, finally, eyes flitting to and from Minho’s attentive ones. “Dinner’s ready, if you wanna come down.”

The boy’s eyes followed your hands as they gestures vaguely to the ladder that disappeared down the hole. You became very aware of the room now, how the moon shone through some fast moving clouds sporadically.

“Oh, sure,” Minho seemed to have snapped out of his slight disorient. “I’ll uh—, I’ll go down first.”

Minho awkwardly walked by you before turning and stepping down the ladder without another glance your way. And when you climbed down the ladder, stumbling off the last rung with a state of clumsy, and Minho’s hands had moved quickly to tighten themselves around your waist, neither of you said anything.

Walking down the stairs, you felt a massive urge to turn around to Minho and apologise. Apologise for basically eavesdropping on his conversation with his mum. You stopped yourself with clenched fists, telling yourself that he wouldn’t appreciate you bringing up the episode when he was clearly in a much better mood. Your fingernails remained pressing into your palms all the way until you walked into the house.

“We’re here!” You announced, awkwardly leading Minho through the entrance and towards the dining room.

After serving Minho and yourself some food, you went to sit with your family who was animatedly talking to Minho’s mother about her decision to buy her home and the lighthouse that protected the boats travelling along the coastline.

“And yeah, my ex-girlfriend and I just decided to buy it!” You glanced up at Minho who shifted uncomfortably beside his mother, opting to lift up the jug of water on the table and top up his mother’s and his own glasses.

“Just like that?” Your mum questioned. “God, it would’ve taken me years to convince Y/D/N to buy that.”

“Yeah, I’ve always liked lighthouses,” Minho’s mother smiled fondly. “I would’ve found a way to live by one.”

A silence filled the table, awkward and filled only by the scrapes of knives and forks on the table. You could feel the question lingering in the air, your father probably twitching to ask it, but Minseo answered it before it was even verbalised.

“I became blind about,” she raised a hand to gesture a so-so movement. “Three years later? It was about 1 and a half years after we were finally able to adopt Minho here.”

You saw the movement of Minseo’s hand under the table to pat at her son’s knee, your eyes darted up to his face and only saw an uncomfortable smile. You downcast your eyes to your plate, Minho mustn’t like talking about his other mum at all.

“Do you like the lighthouse, Minho? I don’t think Y/N would remember to turn it on and off all the time.” Your mum queried, folding her arms over the table.

“Oh, I love it!” Minho said, straightening his back and smiling politely. “I took Y/N up there the other day, actually. Maybe we should start taking turns, just so I can have a break.”

He turned to you and smirked. You rolled your eyes as your parents and Minseo started laughing, amused by Minho’s proposal.

“What d’ya say, Y/N?” He asked, smirk turning slowly into a lopsided smile that you didn’t want to admit made your heart stutter.

Scoffing, you picked up your glass of water. “No thanks, I’d rather watch you suffer for a few more years yet.” You retaliated, smiling in accomplishment as Minho’s mum nodded in agreement.

You liked this; sitting down for dinner and conversing with people other than your parents so freely with laughter filling the table. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It was nice.

☇

“Twenty Questions? Like, the game?”

It was late the next day, you sat with Minho on the floor of Markus’ old bedroom after helping him bring a plethora of items from his own bedroom for safe-keeping. You’d sat down on the floor with a cushion from the armchair in the room whilst Minho finished sorting some things into boxes.

“Yeah, the game.” Minho replies to you, moving to sit across from you on the floor. “I’ve never played it.”

You eyed the way he pulled his legs up and rested his elbows onto them before crossing them over, laying his hands over his upper arms. It seemed oddly intimate, talking to Minho in the warm, dim light of this bedroom. Sitting on the floor with still damp hair from your shower, fingers playing with the cracks in the floorboards below you.

“You know,” you started, turning your gaze to the small Star Wars poster Markus had left on the wall. “Twenty Questions is usually just called a conversation in my books.”

Minho breathed out a short laugh, smile twitching up on his lips. “Alright then. Let’s have a conversation.”

You nodded at him, and he began. “Books or movies?”

“Depends on whether the book or movie is better.” You shrugged, not thinking too hard. “Favourite colour?”

You smiled when Minho rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Basic. Mint green.”

“Ooh nice! I like mint green.” You butted in, pleased with his answer. Minho smiled and nodded in return.

“Tell me a random fact about yourself.” He demanded.

“That’s hardly a question, Minho.”

“This isn’t Twenty Questions, though,” the boy in front of you pointed out. “This is a conversation.”

“Oh my god—”

“Come on, just tell me!” Minho said, smile spreading wider over his lips. Once again, it was infectious, spreading its way over yours as well as you pondered for an answer.

“Uh, I can do this weird thing with my tongue?” You stated, slightly unsure, before opening your mouth and performing a weird tongue dance.

“What the fuck? You pass, that’s creepy.” You laughed at Minho’s scandalised face.

“What about you?” You said, ceasing your fiddling with the floor to lace your fingers together in front of you.

“Me? I’m ambidextrous.” Minho responded with a proud smile, clearly happy with his gift.

You left his room at 11:30PM, telling him he should get some rest before school after hours of questions, answers and detailed elaborations. Despite your earlier fears, it was easy to talk with Minho Lee. You didn’t have a problem speaking to him anymore aside from maybe when he’d do something that would make your heart stall for a brief moment. You didn’t know that his heart stalled too, every time you’d nudge him to get his attention or when you said something that he found particularly adorable.

He liked it, speaking with you, even if he wasn’t exactly used to it.

☇

A week later, you were taking a bite out of one of the chips from the packet you were holding just as another friend came to your table to sit down.

“Since when were you friends with Minho Lee?” He asked, hauling his bag into the table to open the zip on it. “I saw you walking to school with him this morning.”

You paused from eating your chips, you hadn’t really mentioned the whole Minho situation yet. You weren’t ashamed or anything, maybe embarrassed at your friends possibly beginning to believe you had a massive crush on him (which, though you didn’t want to admit it, was becoming more and more true each day you spent with him).

“Oh. Our families are friends.” You said simply, it was true. Your family was close with Minseo and Minho Lee now that they had been with you for a few weeks.

Your friend, Alex, raised a brow at you. “Yo, really? How come I didn’t know?” He exclaimed, faux offence lacing his features.

“I didn’t know either,” another friend piped in. “I’ve never even seen you talk to him!”

“Well,” you started before swallowing the remaining food in your mouth. “He doesn’t really talk much at school. He’s nice, though.”

“I’ve never seen him at breaks, he was in my science in year 10, though.” Alex piped up, finally pulling out a container of god-knows-what from his bag. “He broke like, three whole test tubes.”

You smiled, thinking of Minho being so clumsy to drop test tubes that often. “Sounds like him.”

“Who does he sit with? Like, where does he even go?” The girl beside you asks, eyebrows furrowing as she tried to remember if she’d seen him at a lunchtime before.

“I don’t know, actually.” You answered, tilting your head as you thought hard too. “I’ll ask him after school.”

Your friend nodded and Alex spoke once more, something that looked close to a Thai curry filling his cheeks. “Sin’f whe’dib you wok’ome wiv’im?”

Some heads on your table turned to him, only to join you in laughing at his so-called sentence. “Excuse me, what?”

He just rolled his eyes and gulped three times before opening his mouth again, enunciating it very clearly. “Since when did you walk home with him?”

You laughed breathily once more at your friend before responding. “Since not long ago, really.”

“Do you like him?” A girl named Iniya called from the other end of the table, causing you to almost choke on the water you’d just started to drink. Great, this is exactly what you didn’t want to happen.

“Excuse me?” You shot back, eyes pointing in an accusatory glare. “Why does every guy I talk to have to be a guy I like, Miss ‘I’m-So-Sick-Of-Romance’.”

“Not all guys!” She said. “I wouldn’t ever let you crush on Rawiri.”

All heads turn to Rawiri, another one of your friends, who was struggling the break the ice of his orchy cup. He looked up with wide and confused eyes. “You know, Iniya, I don’t know what I’ve ever fucking done to you.”

The table erupted with laughter and the subject of you liking Minho was forgotten, without you even straight up denying it.

☇

“My friends asked about you at lunch today.” You said, taking a bite into the potato cake Minho had given you which was doused in a thick amount of chicken salt.

“Really?” He questioned, shoving the change from his purchase in his pocket (“I can buy my own potato cake, Minho.” You’d argued, attempting to shove a two dollar coin into Minho’s hand. He only scoffed, and replied in a mocking tone; “I can buy my own potato cake, Minho.”).

“Yeah,” you gulped down your mouthful. “You should come sit with us at lunch.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Minho shaking his head. “No thanks, man. I’m busy during breaks.”

Silence ensued as you battled whether or not you should ask the question that you were thinking of, but you chose to ask it anyway.

“What do you even—”

“Homework,” Minho cut you off before you even finished. “I do it during school, I don’t have time to do it at home.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

You tilted your head slightly. “Would you mind if I came with you while you did it?”

“Yes,” you saw Minho look at you, but you didn’t turn to face him. “You’d be way too much of a distraction.”

“Oh, come on!” You exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes and lips parted in slight offense. “I am not a distraction.”

“You talk,” he retorted. “Heaps. I don’t know how I survive honestly.”

“Okay Mr ‘I’m-gonna-wait-for-you-after-school-everyday’!”

“Would you rather I didn’t?”

“That’s not what I’m saying!”

Minho let out an exasperated sigh before taking a large bite out of his potato cake. You looked away right after you realised you were staring at the chicken salt that remained on his lips, who does that?

“Fine. But I’m not gonna hesitate to kick you outta the library if you piss me off.” You fist pumped in victory before picking up your pace, basically skipping home with a proud face of accomplishment.

“Can you not run off?” Minho called down the street. “I’m kind of excruciatingly lazy, here!”

The next day, Minho led you from your shared society and culture class to the school library up at the 3rd floor of one of your school buildings.

“Hey Minho!” The librarian greeted, catching you off guard as Minho smiled and waved politely. You waved too before you realised Minho had quickly travelled away from you, already looking for a table.

He found an empty one, one painfully close to the Manga section of the library where a few edgy year eights sat, black nail polish on their fingers that flicked the pages of the book every few seconds.

“Sit across from me,” he directed, sitting down and swinging his bag onto the table. “I kinda need some space.”

You didn’t realise what he really meant by that until you saw just how seriously he was going to study. He pulled out his laptop and five different work books as well as two pencil cases (“One for pens ‘n’ stuff and the other for highlighters.”).

“Whoa.” You said, meekly dragging out your pencil case and your English book to begin your draft for an upcoming in class essay.

“Shush, I won’t hesitate to kick you out.”

You shut your mouth, eyes studying Minho’s dead serious expression as he stared directly at you. After a few seconds, you couldn’t help the fit of giggles that tumbled from your lips, causing Minho to roll his eyes and kick your shin under the table. You inhaled a large amount of air to calm down before apologising and getting a pen out from your pencil case.

You did your work without bothering Minho from then on. No noises, no erratic movements, nothing that would distract him in any way. You got a fair amount of work done, too, as you were almost halfway finished your essay draft. You’d suppressed some groans here and there, really despising the fact that you were stuck there doing an essay on Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’.

You and Minho had grown closer over the past few weeks. The air around you was no longer awkward and you could approach each other anytime without being overthrown by nerves and thoughts of ‘Am I annoying them?’ or ‘Are they too busy?’, thank god. Minho liked it a lot, actually. Having a friend, that is. He more of survived off of acquaintances, not really having the time to hang out with people outside of school when he wanted to spend his time looking after the lighthouse and, of course, his mum.

But he couldn’t help but smile at knowing he could talk to you about things that were just funny and relatable at your age, things he probably couldn’t laugh about with his mum. He liked it most when you approached him, smile gracing your lips and a snarky comment tumbling from them in some form of greeting that, even though it was most likely a comment to offend him, made his heart beat a little harder.

At first, he’d played it off simply as excitement of having a friend, of having someone close to his age that he could talk to whenever he wanted pretty much. But now? Now he had realised.

His eyes fell on you constantly as he was supposed to be studying, not that you noticed with your furrowed brows and nose buried deep into your copy of ‘Othello’. He wanted to say something to tease you when he noticed your phone on the table, image on the screen lighting up of google and the search bar filled with ‘synonyms for emotions’ and other various things. He just let out a small smile and trailed his eyes up to your face, pupils dilated as you read through a scene of the play, sometimes your eyes flicking back up a few lines once you realised you weren’t really paying attention to what you were reading. Your fingers tapped on the table silently and your workbook lay open to reveal two pages of messily written words that were crossed out and rewritten, little notes in red above some sentences and quotes from the play written larger than the rest of it, as if to draw attention to them over your actual analysis.

Minho could feel it, his heart beating a little faster, but it didn’t stop him from staring at the way your eyelashes splayed over your cheekbones whenever you blinked. He could feel it, the lump in his throat as he realised he really, really wanted to kiss you, even if he didn’t really know how.

He liked you, and he felt like an idiot for feeling that way.

Minho barely got any work done that day.

(“What do you mean I’m ‘too distracting’? I barely said a word!”

“Yeah, I don’t care. I’m going back to studying on my own.”)

☇

You were lying on you bed on a late Sunday afternoon, a whole month after the time you got denied to study with Minho after he deemed you an unfit ‘Study Buddy’, your phone in your hands as you scrolled through Instagram.

It was mid spring now, and the sun had begun beating down harder (not that you noticed, as the bellowing wind was still very, very prominent).

“Hey,” you heard a voice from your doorway and you tilted your head to find Minho standing there. “Wanna come down to the beach with me? I’ve got something cool to do.”

You sat up, already very prepared to tag along. “Are we feeding the penguins—?” You cut yourself off and clamped your mouth shut. Minho hadn’t told you about the penguins yet, and he most certainly didn’t know you knew about him feeding them almost every night when they returned from the sea.

“Huh?” He said, tilting his head at you and furrowing his brows. “Did I already tell you about them? Damn, I wanted it to be a cool surprise.”

You let out the breath you were holding and nodded. “Oh well, I still haven’t seen them yet.”

The boy in your doorway smiled at you. “Let’s go then.”

After throwing on some thongs and grabbing a coat to fight the wind, you followed Minho out of your home and along the dirt pathway that led, basically, to his house. You expected to go inside but Minho simply walked around the back, passed all the scaffolding and equipment left over from the renovation, and to a small shed.

“We’re gonna feed them some squid. I took it out of the freezer this morning,” He said, yanking the wooden door of the shed open. “But I still have to keep it in here because Vanta is a massive pig.”

You laughed lightly, already noting the way Vanta had followed you and suddenly appeared meowing in the doorway of the shed as Minho went inside and picked up a bucket full to above the brim with thawed raw squid. He began complaining about how heavy it was, but still defended the bucket from your hands and your words of ‘Just let me carry it!’.

Eventually, he caved, letting your hands grab at the handle and follow him whilst carrying it. He led you down the path that led to the stairs down the beach, Vanta scampering along behind you.

“They should be out soon,” he said, taking the bucket from your tired hand once you reached the bottom of the stairs. “The sun’s just about to set.”

You nodded, stepping out further into the beach over various cuttlefish bones and almost dry seaweed that lay strewn across it. Despite living right next to it, you weren’t too fond of the ocean. But with Minho placing the bucket down in the middle of the small beach and jogging past you to lead Vanta to the place where the water licked at the sand, kicking off his thongs on the way, you felt a wave of contentment wash over you.

“What the fuck even is your cat?” You called out to Minho, leaving your thongs next to his as you walked down to where Vanta was leaping around in the water.

“I have no idea,” he mumbled, watching her splash her paws together in the sand under the thinnest layer of salt-water. “It’s fucking freezing in there.”

You stood there for 20 minutes at least, laughing at Minho’s odd cat before noticing some penguins swimming into the shore just a little while up the beach. Minho smiled brightly, running to grab the bucket of squid, sand kicking up behind him a little bit as he stumbled.

It was still just barely light out, pink-turning-purple slowly descending over the horizon. It was still light enough to watch Minho wave you over, telling you to walk gently, slowly as you got closer to the tiny pack of penguins.

Although cautious, many weren’t too phased by Minho and your presence, choosing just to slowly waddle past you. That was when Minho nudged you, telling you to copy him as he grabbed a handful of the squid and tossed it in the general direction of the penguins.

By this point, Vanta had realised what you were doing and she ran over, startling some of the penguins as she picked up some of the squid.

“Goddamn pig, I swear.” Minho whispered to you, smiling as you reached towards the bucket and flung a handful of the squid to roughly the same place Minho did.

The penguins were flooding in by now, and the bucket was nearly empty as Minho’s and your throws became more and more generous. Minho let you have the last toss, laughing as you dramatically threw it into the air, watching it scatter over the sand near where the penguins were.

Minho’s eyes set on you. Your face illuminated by the last glimpses of purple peeking over the vast sea, and his heart leapt into his throat. Ah, he thought, this is what I’ve been missing out on all these years.

“Come on, let’s go.” He bumped his shoulder with yours. “I’d rather not have my hands smell like squid for much longer.”

You nodded enthusiastically, turning around to go and grab your thongs.

“Oh shit!” You laughed once you realised both yours and Minho’s pairs were painfully close to the rising tide, probably minutes away from being washed out to sea.

Minho laughed, coming over to grab his pair in the hand that wasn’t holding the bucket, and you both climbed up the three flights of stairs to the pathway that would lead you home. You talked Minho’s ear off on the way up about how cool that was, and how adorable those penguins were. You even threw in an idea about how you could turn it into a tourist attraction and earn a shit-tonne of money before quickly rejecting idea, shutting it down with an ‘Exploitation of animals isn’t cool. They might get super anxious!’.

Minho could wipe the smile off of his face, all the way to your kitchen even as he ran some warm water and you squirted some foaming soap into his awaiting hands.

Your mum came in, checking the food that was brewing on the stove in the kitchen and smiling at you fondly.

“Where did you guys go?” She questioned, lowering the heat that flared up on the undersides of the pot.

“Just down to the beach,” you turned and smiled at her, soap lathered over your hands. “Minho showed me the penguins! We fed them!”

“Really?” Your mum raised her eyebrows, turning to Minho who smiled sheepishly. “That sounds amazing!”

“Yeah, Y/N seemed to like it more than I did.”

“They were so cute! I’ve never been that close to them before and—” You let out a small sound to emphasise just how adorable they were, and you missed the way Minho looked at you fondly from his place next to you.

Your mum smiled before telling you you were eating fajitas for the night, adding on that the family wasn’t going to sit around that table because she was too lazy for that. Your family rarely sat around the table until the Lee’s came, opting to just eat dinner in the loungeroom or have you take your food to your room to eat whilst you studied.

You smiled and nodded at your mother, rinsing off your hands before pulling out some plates from a cabinet and beginning to make an abundance of food with Minho helping.

“Maybe you guys should go and eat up at the lighthouse? That’d be cool, wouldn’t it?” You looked at your mum skeptically, only to find her smiling quite genuinely. With that, you turned your head to face Minho, practically begging him with your eyes.

“Shit—!” He exclaimed before quickly shutting his mouth and apologising to your mother for swearing. “I forgot to turn the light on!”

Minho’s eyes were wide and you laughed at him, shoving the plates into his hands. “You go up first, I’ll come up in a bit with some water ‘n’ stuff.”

Minho nodded at you graciously, asking you to also possibly bring up his jacket with you. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be up in ten!”

After that, Minho was off rushing out the door and you were jogging down your hallway to find a spare backpack. After finding one you quickly shoved in a couple of blankets and a big water bottle. Your mum came up behind you and shoved in a packet of double coated Tim Tams.

“Minho’s a nice boy, don’t’cha think?” She said to you, smiling as you zipped up the bag and reached for Minho’s coat that lay on a nearby chair.

“Lay off it, mum.” You knew she was just teasing, probably had noticed your blushy cheeks from earlier (which most certainly weren’t because Minho smiled at you so wide his gums showed).

Saying goodbye, you walked out of the house, turning on the flashlight of your phone and wandering out towards the lighthouse. You tilted your head back, looking up, and smiled once you realised Minho had already switched the light on, the top room glowing brightly every seven seconds.

It took you a shorter amount of time to scale the stairs this time around, after doing it so often lately of course. And once you climbed up the ladder, Minho was waiting for you with half a fajita stuffed into his mouth. He tried to greet you but it obviously didn’t work out as it only came out in a mixture of muffled sounds followed by laughter followed by him almost choking on his food.

You smiled as he struggled to swallow the massive bite he’d taken out of his fajita, amused by his dumbassery. He gasped for air once he swallowed and gestures for you to sit down with him, shoving your plate towards you.

“Took you long enough,” he said, reaching into the bag you’d dropped in front of him to pull out the bottle of water. “Your food almost went cold— oh, fuck yes! Tim Tams!”

You laughed again and he turned to you whilst unscrewing the cap of his bottle. “Go on, eat up!”

You did as he said, stuffing your face with food as he recited the story of the last time he’d come to chill up here and how he fell asleep, giving Minseo a heart attack in doing so. Listening to Minho talk was easy, he jumped from one story to another with ease and seemed like he didn’t even need your input to keep going.

“—And so yeah, mum’s pretty proud of her–, I mean, our culture so she wanted to adopt a Korean baby too. Even gave me a Korean name which is sometimes a bitch because the majority of what I get at school is ‘Minno’ and—” Minho looked up to you from his empty plate and realised you’d also finished eating, and were just sitting there with your cheek in your palm as you listened to him speak. “Shit, sorry, I’m rambling.”

You shook your head. “No, it’s fine. I like it actually.”

“Really?” He asked, self-convinced you were lying to make him feel better.

“Yeah. I’ve always liked listening to people talk,” you said, reassuring the now timid boy. “It’s comforting.”

“How so?” He queried, offering you the bottle of water you packed and pulling out the Tim Tams from the bag.

“My cousin, Markus,” You said in between gulps of water. “He used to have friends over a lot and I’d always fall asleep when they were talking loud as fuck in his room. Ever since, talking has just been something that I liked listening to.”

Minho nodded, staring into your eyes with a smile. “It’s a good thing I like talking, then.” He commented, biting into a Tim Tam.

You hummed in return, picking a Tim Tam out of the packet and biting into it as well.

“You know,” you glanced up at Minho once he started talking again. “I never really used to care for, or like, talking.”

“Hm? Why’d’ya like it now?” You tugged out a blanket from the bag on the floor, wrapping it snug around your shoulders.

“I just–, never used to have friends I guess. Until that dumb tree fell on our house and I met you, that is.” Minho shrugged dismissively, but you saw the red crawling up his neck at his confession. “I think I just have a lot of stories to tell that I haven’t told before.”

“That sounds about right.”

There was silence for a while, and you turned your head to look at the gleaming light of the lighthouse, visibly cringing when it shone due to the pure brightness of the concentrated beam.

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“I sorta—,” Minho’s voice shook a bit and you tried not to notice the red spreading over his face to save the poor boy the embarrassment. “I just wanted you to know that I like being friends with you.”

Your heart stalled before beginning to beat erratically. You knew it wasn’t a big deal, that Minho likes being your friend, but you couldn’t help but feel giddy about it. Your ears pricked as he continued before you could respond.

“You always listen to me say dumb shit and put up with me being sorta edgy, I guess. You don’t even care about how weird my family is and for some reason, Vanta likes you more than she likes me, which would totally not be okay but it’s sort of okay because it’s you.” Minho’s fingers intertwined with each other out of– nervousness? Embarrassment? You didn’t know. But you did feel the sudden urge to untangle them and hold his hands in your own.

Red started appearing brightly on your cheeks, but Minho was staring at his clasped hands and didn’t notice. You saw the way his nose sniffed a little bit and his top lip protrudes more than usual because he was looking down. You really, really wanted to kiss him.

“After my mums old carer retired, I sort of lost contact with my friends to look after her. That’s not a complaint; I like doing it, but like—. I don’t know, it’s pretty cool that you’ll hang out with my mum and me and you try really hard to help her without being overbearing about it.”

God, he puffed his cheeks out a little and took a small glance up at you before flitting his eyes out of the window towards the bush-land opposite the sea. You just really wanted to squish his cheeks together and kiss him and see his blush up close, right in front of your eyes.

“Not to mention, you’re just really cool. You follow me up this dumb lighthouse and come feed penguins with me and walk with me to and from school. I guess I’ve just never had a friend as close as you, and I really—”

Fuck it.

You leant forward at a lightening speed, pressing your lips to Minho’s and effectively cutting off his little speech. Your stomach swooped excitedly, though it wasn’t even a proper kiss. You simply pressed your lips to his for two seconds before pulling back with wide eyes and pressing a hand to your mouth in shock.

Minho, at this point, was bright red. His cheeks were burning and he felt slightly dizzy as he looked at you with eyes that mirrored yours. His heart was beating beyond fast, his little monologue long forgotten because, holy shit, you’d just kissed him.

“Fuck.” You started, taking the blanket off of your shoulders and beginning to shove it into your backpack whilst avoiding Minho’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry Minho that was really uncalled for.”

Minho couldn’t respond, his tongue simply would not move and lay in his mouth limply as he watched you pack up some things.

“I’ll go down first and we—” you huffed out a breath, beginning to stand up. “We can just forget about it, yeah?”

“Wait!” Minho’s body finally registered his brains signals as his hand reached out to grip at your wrist, tugging you back down to sit in front of him again. He didn’t continue until a few seconds after, causing your anxiety to scale up quickly. “You just took my first kiss.”

God, way to play the guilt card Minho. “Fuck, Minho. I’m so sorry, I’m an idiot and you can beat me up if you wa—”

“Can you take my second kiss, too?”

You paused, you hands shaking slightly out of nerves and your head spinning as you tried to focus solely on his face. Did Minho Lee really just say that?

“Huh?” Was the only thing you could say, panic swirling through your mind.

“Can you kiss me again? I’d kiss you but I don’t really know how and—”

You moved forward before you even knew it, hands crashing onto Minho’s knees and lips crashing to his. It was still for a moment, neither of you moving until you realised you were the only one with the slightest knowledge or experience, even if it was just a slightly buzzed kiss at a party when you were 16. You breathed out out of your nose slightly before tilting your head and pulling back the tiniest bit. You could feel Minho’s small pant over your lips just before you leant back towards him, tilting your head slightly more.

It was awkward and full of hesitancy, but when you pulled away Minho only sat closer and leaned towards you to kiss you again.

And again.

With each new kiss grew more confidence, smiles and small giggles escaping both of your lips whenever you bumped noses with one another. Your ministrations matched up with his after however many tries and Minho’s hands lifted from where they were carefully caressing your arms up to cup at your cheeks and press forward a bit harder.

You knew you were bright red, and your mind swarmed with thoughts and words: Oh my god, Minho’s lips were so soft. Oh my god, the way his thumbs brushed over your cheekbones. Oh my god, Minho was kissing you. Oh my god, Minho was kissing you. It felt like a long time after a millennium when you pulled back, forehead pressing to his and nose brushing his affectionately.

Despite the way your heart had initially thrashed in your chest and the way your blood had rushed through your body with pure adrenaline egged on only further by Minho’s gentle and hesitant movements, despite all that, it was a calming thing kissing Minho. After a while, your heart slowed down to a low thumping beat and your fingers, which had fisted themselves around Minho’s t-shirt, uncurled themselves to splay across his chest.

You felt it under your fingertips, the shudder that travelled through his body once you pushed your hands upwards onto his shoulders, hugging at the base of his neck.

You didn’t talk about it when you finally parted once and for all, sleep heavy in your minds as your gentle kisses to each other had lulled you both into some kind of trance. Simply, you packed your things with tired smiles and travelled the long way down the stairs and out into the slight chill of the early springtime air. Minho walked closer to you than normal, assuring your sides at the very least brushed up against each other with every stride.

Nothing was said, even as Minho smiled at you so softly as you walked backwards into your bedroom, returning the smile before letting Minho pull your door closed behind you and walking into his room as well. You fell asleep relatively easily, which you found amusing, seeing how often you were kept awake at night in the past, blush on your cheeks as your subconscious always led you to thinking of Minho.

Minho. You’d kissed Minho Lee that night.

Minho, on the other side of the wall, lay in bed with a dumb smile playing over his lips. You’d kissed him, more than once. God, the day he forgot how your lips felt pressed against his would be the day he died.

Despite the red dancing over his cheekbones, he fell asleep quite easy too.

The quicker I fall asleep, he thought, the quicker I’ll be able to see them again.

☇

That morning, you woke up with a bundle of nervous energy. It was 7:30, you decided to shower quickly and darted into the bathroom, avoiding any confrontation with Minho Lee just yet.

You walked out of the bathroom once you were done and dressed, only to walk into the kitchen to find Minseo and Minho sitting at your table eating granola and yoghurt.

Minho looked up at you and gave you a sly grin before looking back down and shoving another spoonful of the granola into his mouth. Charming.

“It’s eight ten guys,” your dad said as he walked out from the kitchen, passing you a slice of vegemite toast to eat on your way. “You should get going.”

“Sho’fink!” Minho said, voice muffled as he shovelled a few last spoonfuls of food into his mouth before standing up and hugging his own mum from over her chair.

“Later, ma!” He fare-welled her before gripping his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder, walking down the entrance hall and out the front door before you could even catch up.

“See you this afternoon!” You called into the vague area of the kitchen, hurrying to the front door to reach Minho before he got too far.

Once you caught up with him, it was pretty much silent. You didn’t want to bring up the happenings of last night but it seemed he didn’t want to either and now you were both stuck whilst reluctantly thinking up game plans on how exactly to bring it up. A huff sounded from next to you and you looked towards Minho, he walked beside you whilst absentmindedly kicking some stones on the pathway. He looked really fucking pretty, it was sort of unfair. His hair was a bit of a mess, probably your fault for hogging the bathroom that morning but you didn’t care because the little flicks in every direction just looked so freakishly adorable you were actually scared of what it was doing to your heart.

“You don’t get to stare at me,” he suddenly spoke, snapping you out of your reverie. “It’s making me nervous.”

Quickly, you snapped your eyes towards the ground and sped up your pace a little bit. Minho didn’t need to know you stared at him but now he certainly did and it wasn’t fair. It was even more unfair when he laughed from your side and you felt a hand gripping onto yours loosely.

Oh. Minho was holding your hand. Minho was holding your hand as you walked to school together. Hand. Minho. Minho’s hand wrapped around yours. God, what the fuck was happening?

You were blushing so hard, the feeling of whatever Minho had induced inside of you had come crashing so fast and so thick that your head rushed and you suddenly felt light-headed. You couldn’t even look at the boy, he probably had some kind of shit-eating grin and teasing eyes. Minho felt lucky you weren’t going to look at him, very lucky indeed.

His stomach was erupting with nerves, was this okay? Was he holding your hand right? Was his hand sweaty? Did you mind it? The questions flowed freely through his head and his head pounded in his chest. God, why did this have to make him so tense.

You on the other hand had only just managed to pick up the courage to tighten your grip in return to Minho’s hand in yours, giving it just the slightest squeeze. Minho felt a million times better after that.

You said nothing else on the walk, simply awkwardly looking around as the morning sun peeked through the blooming trees. The both of you didn’t want to let go, but finally dropped each other’s hands upon dawdling through the gate, Minho letting you go to your friends. His hand felt warm still, and he loved the feeling, watching you as you turned a corner into the area in which your group hung out. Jesus, he liked you so much it was incredible.

You held hands on the way home too, this time you snatching his hand as you left the school. He smiled at you and said hello before re-adjusting your fingers to fit them between his own. At times, he’d notice his grip had loosened whilst he paid attention to the story you were telling of your sub from your earth and environmental class, when he noticed this he tightened his fingertips onto the back of your hand with a firm embrace.

He thought, with a smile, that he could hold your hand forever.

☇

It had been, officially, three days since you’d kissed Minho, and he’d responded largely in your favour.

You hadn’t kissed since; though you’d wanted to, but the amount of affection in whatever relationship you shared had multiplied greatly. You believed even your mum had noticed the shift in your attitude around each other, catching her moving to whisper into Minseo’s ear whenever Minho decided to give you a heart attack and do something simple like fixing your collar before your walk to school. Maybe it wasn’t just you that had caught the tender look in Minho’s eyes when he did so.

Today, a Wednesday, the boy that was living in your house had been particularly clingy. Your mum hadn’t mentioned it to you, but you saw the meanings behind her amused pointed looks when Minho, instead of asking you to move like a normal person, brought his hands up to gently grasp your middle and shift you softly to one side. You’d grown accustomed to his little ways of showing affection, like the way he ensured his leg was bouncing up next to yours when you sat down next to each other on the couch, as if he was assuring you he was there. Or even the way he made sure to supply you with whatever you needed, like when you asked for a pen and he gripped your hand and spread your palm open himself before putting the damned thing in it. Honestly, just hand the pen over, Minho.

Anyway, you were up in your room, sitting cross-legged in your bed, studying for an upcoming French test with Minho (who insisted on helping) sitting in front of you with flash cards.

“I don’t want to do this,” he groaned, tipping back his head in dissatisfaction. “You’ve got all of them right, anyway!”

You rolled your eyes, taking the flash cards from his hands. “I told you, you don’t have to help me!”

“But I want to help you!”

“You literally just said ‘I don’t want to do this’.”

“Yeah, because this is boring!”

You shook your head at the boy in front of you before dropping your head down to shuffle through the cards again. “You’re incredibly dumb, Minho Lee, you know th—?”

Minho leaned forward and placed his hands onto your knees, fingers spreading over them before you felt the press of his lips against the crown of your head.

He sort of lingered there for a while before pulling back and sitting comfortably again. You slowly raised your head and met his eyes, they were cute and crinkled as his cheeks rose with his giddy smile.

“Let’s talk for a while,” he offered, already closing your French book. “You’re gonna ace that test anyway.”

You nodded dumbly, still slightly dazed at his genuinely fond action. Gripping onto your workbook, you reached back and placed it onto your bedside table along with your pencil case and badly shuffled flash cards. Once you turned back, Minho was already beside you and leaning back on your pillows.

“Tell me about your day?” He asked, shifting down a bit lower so he was more comfortable but looking at you nonetheless, neck probably craning uncomfortably at the angle.

You mirrored him, scooching down lower so your shoulders were pressed together. “Nothing much happened really. You know that Jamie Nyombe kid?”

Minho nodded, picking up your hand and pulling it back onto his chest to fiddle with your fingers.

“Well he choked really bad on his choccy milk and started crying, it was really funny.” You smiled, remembering how he choked from laughing at another friend’s joke. “But that’s about it, how about yours?”

“Hm,” Minho started, ignoring the shiver that went through your spine as he played with your fingers. “I don’t do much at school. I just sat there and missed you, then came home.”

You couldn’t help the blush that spread over your cheeks, what exactly was it with Minho being so uncharacteristically bold today? “Missed me, huh?”

Minho giggles a bit, chest moving underneath your hand. “Yeah, and my mum too.”

You thought back to earlier that day when Minho and his mum had sat in the loungeroom alone, talking about something that spread tension throughout the whole house and no one else dared to interfere with. There was no yelling or anything of that sort, just a lingering feeling of a serious conversation.

“How is your mum? You guys talked for a while this afternoon.” You questioned, bringing the topic up softly.

“Oh, she’s fine. We were just talking about her ex girlfriend.” He grumbled with a little sigh. “She’s a real annoying twat, that woman.”

Your eyebrows raised at his sudden hostile language. “How so?”

“She left me ‘n’ my mum because she couldn’t handle with mum being blind,” you couldn’t see it, but you felt his eye-roll. “The bitch still thinks she’s entitled enough to be my mother because her millionaire ass pays for most my stuff.”

You didn’t really know how to respond, instead processing the information because you knew Minho would continue anyway.

“I mean, I don’t object it because free stuff is free stuff, and mum can’t work so it’s nice getting some extra cash here and there.” He explained, ceasing playing with your fingers for a moment before continuing. “But she’s paying for the renovations for the house and wants us to stay with her until they’re finished. Says ‘It’s the least she can do’. Like, fuck off.”

He continued on, rambling and rambling about this lady you’d never even seen before. In the back of your mind you registered how the rest of the town thought Minho had a father and not a second mum, who wasn’t even his mum at this point, but that thought quickly dispersed once Minho finished talking.

“Fuck. That was a lot,” he turned his head to yours which was facing the ceiling, eyes closed in relaxation. “I’ve never talked about her to anyone before.”

You smiled, opening your eyes. “She sounds like a real bitch, so I’m glad you did.”

“Yeah, me too.” Minho let out softly before speaking louder in realisation. “Shit, you’ve got your exam tomorrow. You should get some sleep!”

Before you could even protest he was climbing out of your bed like a child on Christmas, stretching his arms a little before turning to you and muttering a quiet goodnight and turning to leave. You climbed out of bed too, quickly gripping at Minho’s wrist before he left.

“Wait!” You said, tugging him back so he was in front of you and leaning towards him. You shakily pressed a kiss to his forehead, mind swimming with nice feelings for the black haired boy. “Thank you for helping me study and talking to me.”

Once you pulled back, Minho smiled softly before backtracking out of the door.

“Nigh-night, Y/N.”

“Night, Minho.”

☇

Three weeks. Three whole weeks of tiptoeing around the house and holding hands on your way to school. God, had you tried so hard to kiss Minho again. The times he noticed you leaning in he’d pull back slightly and smile teasingly at your expression. You’d think he didn’t want to kiss you, didn’t like you back or something-or-other but he’d always lean back towards you to peck anywhere on your face that wasn’t your lips.

You figured you could survive, but then suddenly Minho was packing up and leaving your house to return to his own, and you realised you’d see him less and less and god, just fucking kiss me Minho Lee!

“I’ll grab you in the morning,” he said as you walked out of his front door after helping him carry the last things over. “You’d better be ready for school.”

You nodded, it was your last week of classes for the term and you’d realised he wouldn’t walk you to and from school for a whole two weeks. You felt really worried about how little you guys might see each other, as you’d grown so accustomed to his presence and absent minded touches.

In the morning, you were ready earlier than usual and even opted out on meeting Minho halfway. You saw him as he walked up to where the paths forked into one and waved.

“Miss me that much, huh?” He’d teased, already naturally linking his fingers with yours.

It was normal now, walking to school like this. Your friends often made fun of you for your relationship (whatever that relationship might be) with Minho Lee, mocking the way you blushed when he grabbed your hand at the gate at the end of the day. Minho promised to come meet your friends soon, and it oddly felt like introducing your boyfriend to your parents though Minho wasn’t your boyfriend and your friends certainly weren’t your parents.

“Wanna come study with me today?” Minho asked once you could see the towering buildings of the school in the distance.

“I thought I was too much of a distraction?” You retorted, squeezing your fingers against his.

Minho laughed slightly, bringing his other hand up to adjust his bag strap on his shoulder. “Yeah, but I can make an exception today.”

☇

So here you sat, in the library next to a Minho Lee that insisted you take the seat by him unlike last time. You sat highlighting a booklet on how Guangzhou, China became so overpopulated since 1991 whilst Minho sat next to you, typing away on his laptop.

You didn’t notice the way his tapping on keys had stopped since five minutes ago and his body had slightly shifted towards yours. He knew he wasn’t going to get anything done while you were sitting next to him, it was inevitable.

He figured, now’s a better time than any. A better time than any to finally do it, to finally ask you out and kiss you like you’ve wanted to. He didn’t even register at this point that he was in a library when he took the highlighter out of your hand and placed the cap onto it before putting it on the desk in front of you.

You looked up at him, confused as to what the fuck he thought he was doing. That was when he brought his hands to your jaw and you knew. Holy shit, he was actually going to kiss y—.

God, fuck, every other word of expression that could possibly be used to describe the feeling of Minho leaning in and attaching his lips with yours. What the fuck? Since when was he actually good at this? What flavour lip balm was he even wearing? Did he care about how you only had papaw?

Too quickly was he pulling away, did you even kiss back properly? It was all a bit too much to handle for you for the 7 whole seconds he’d pressed his lips to yours. Your eyes fluttered open and you were sure you were blushing, it’s not like you had time to prepare yourself.

“I wanna be your boyfriend.”

Fuck, you had definitely not prepared yourself, you were an absolute mess and your fingers curled around the hands that were on your cheeks. You couldn’t help but smile, and that set Minho’s heartbeat at ease.

You nodded, “Okay, Mr Boyfriend.”

He smiled back at you, nerves no longer thrashing through him and heart pounding because of something entirely different now. It was official, god, his mum was gonna be so fucking happy.

“Really?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

“Hm,” you fauxed a look of contemplation. “If you let me kiss you again, then it’s a maybe.”

He laughed, looking down in disbelief before raising his head again and nodding, already leaning forward to make it easier for you.

“Hey, as nice as it is you’ve found a friend,” you both pulled apart, shocked at the loud voice and looking for its source. “There’s absolutely no kissing in the library, Minho.”

The librarian stood at a shelf nearby, raising her eyebrows at you both before walking off with some books in her hand.

“What a cockblock.” He grumbled, sitting back in his seat in disappointment.

Though, you made up for it. You kissed him on your way home, at the beach many times when feeding the penguins, up at the lighthouse where you remembered your first and even down at your front door before you could let him leave.

Minho liked it, having a friend. But he liked even more having someone to kiss and hold hands with, and someone that he just wanted constantly to give tender touches to. You liked it too, he could tell, and that made him glad.

No one really knows the boy that mans the lighthouse on your bay, no one except you. And you were never ever going to forget the storm that brought the two of you together. The storm that brought you Minho.

☇

(“You know, I used to watch you feed the penguins before we met.”

“I know, you’re terrible at hiding.”

“What the fuck? You knew I was practically a creep this whole time?”

“What? You mean you weren’t just watching the penguins?”

“Forget I said that.”)

☇

640 notes · View notes